One of a Kindby JaHarreChaptersBest Day Ever (Revised)Best Day EverWorst Day EverMeet the Locals - good and badWhere?Five Easy StepsExplanationsTradersTime To Go HuntingThe HuntRead me first!Best Day Ever (Revised)“HOLY CRAP!!!! I’m late!” I had 35 minutes to make it to campus to set up for my presentation and I had just woken up. I set another geniuses book of world records (breaking my previous one of 2.3 seconds) for getting dressed and brushing my teeth (a shower will have to wait). Then after applying generous amounts of deodorant, I mentally reviewed my check list. 'Computer, projector, wallet, keys, iphone, pocket knife and power cords for all of this. Let’s see, check, check and check.' I sprinted through the rain to the bus stop and made it just as the bus pulled up. Good, now I have a 30 minute bus ride to fully wake up and review just what my presentation is on. Before I continue with this story let me tell you about myself a bit. I am a Mechanical engineering student at Clemson University (GO TIGERS!!!). I have a presentation to give in a little over three hours on robotics, a topic I absolutely love by the way, and my professor really set the bar high on this one. We were split into groups and each group had 3 members and we had to design, build, and program a robot that mimicked human motion. Bob, Jimmy and I (my partners in crime and my best friends) chose the hands and forearms. We had them working with wireless sensors attached to these gloves that went half way up your arm. When you moved, they mimicked your motion, so we had this smart idea to give the presentation and then demonstrate them playing a key board. I drew the short straw so I had to actually give the power point that we had prepared, hence the projector. The other two get to set up and play with uh… I mean, give the demonstration. 'Oh great I finally made it.' I sighed as I stepped off the bus in front of the campus. There was one of my partners waiting for me already. “Oh boy… ya'll look like ya got run'nd ov'r by a truck.” ______________________________________________________________________ This is Jimmy. By far the most redneck of the group. He loves to hunt, fish and has a different gun for every day of the week, and his momma fries some of the best chicken I've ever had. But don't let his down home southern drawl and mannerisms fool ya, He is a genius, especially when it comes to electrical circuits (both analog and digital). He is the only reason I passed my electrical classes and then some. ______________________________________________________________________ “Well hello to you too, now help me get this to class and out of the rain and then we'll go unload your truck" As we walked, we talked a bit more about how we wanted the presentation to go. Its a good thing we got there 3 hours before the presentation was due. Because when ever anything this important happens, Murphey steps in. "Hey, You seen Bobby yet?” I asked “Nah, he ain't shown up yet and he hasn’t called so I gue…” at that exact moment both our phones go off with a new text message. Sorry guies. Cat mak it. In hospital now. @ppindex burst last knight. Key bord and mountin stand in my apt. roomate is hom. Tell Dr. Hartwell sory. God luk! Jimmy and I look back at each other with a worried glance. Normally Bobby's texts are all neat and typed with the utmost care. The fact that it was this garbled mess gave some credit to his message as well as stating that he is doped up on something pretty strong. _______________________________________________________________ Bobby was more or less the geek of the group. He isn't the socially awkward, can't get a date, sits in front of a computer all day, type of geek. He... well scratch that last one. He does like to sit in front of a computer all day. Jimmy and I have had to hide his from him a couple of times... It was not a pretty site. He is always up on the latest software and gadgets and has some incredible contacts in that field, and he can write code and program like nobody's business. He wrote the software for our robot and then trained Jimmy and me in how to use it as well as giving us copies of the program and software for it. The man could be the next Bill Gates! The only reason he is even taking Mechanical Eng. as his major is because he, and I quote "needed a challenge". He also likes hooking us up with some of the most cutting edge tech for cheap, which I'll never complain about. He is the one who made it so Jimmy and I could pass the programing portion of our classes. (yea... you take a lot of random classes as an engineer) All three of us had been friends since sophomore year. We kept getting in the same classes together and had done a lot of projects together over the years. We were the three amigos. _________________________________________________________ “Soooooooo....Whada we do now?!” “Hmmmm.....Ok Jimmy, you’re the one with a car so go to his apartment and get the stuff. I’ll stay here and continue setting up and beg Dr. Hartwell to give us more time.” “Right, I’ll be back in fifteen.” After explaining the situation to him and showing the text from Bobby, Dr. Hartwell moved our group to last, and agreed to give all of us full credit for what we earned as it was no one’s fault for Bobby’s condition. I sprinted back to our stuff and immediately began hooking up the remote and receiver for the arms. I was almost finished when Jimmy made it back. “Well, his roommate confirm'd that he took Bobby tuh the hospital at four this mornin. So hows it commin?” “Great, we just need to hook up one of our computers and start up the program and do a calibration test and we're all set.” “Awesome, let’s do this.” We worked like mad men. While getting the interface set up for the arms and testing them one more time, we noticed that we had a minor flaw. Neither of us knew how to play a key board. That was Bobby’s part. “Great, now whada we do?” Jimmy asked. “Weeeee’ll…. we’ll improvise, ya know, ask for a volunteer or something.” It wasn't long before it was our turn. _________________________________________________________________ (20 minutes after the presentations were over) “Yeah!!!!! That was unbelievable! Did you see their faces?” We congratulated ourselves as we packed up our stuff. “Ah know! Carter’s group looked like they just ate a mouthful of shi…” “Boys!” Dr. Hartwell called after us. “Yes sir?” “Yes sir?” “May I speak with you in my office before you leave please?” You know those times after a test that you feel you aced it and you go out and start celebrating and drinking it up with your buddies? Only to find out that you actually failed it miserably, and your stomach feels like its going to fall through the floor? Yeah, I was getting that feeling right about now. As we walked behind Dr. Hartwell, I looked over at Jim and saw he was feeling the same as me. Sometimes this professor can be a real hard ass. When we entered his office, we saw that there were two other people in the room. All three of them (including professor Hartwell) had on that same stern face that gave away nothing. 'Man, do these people all play poker together or do they practice that look in the mirror every morning?' “Boys. I would like to introduce you to a couple of friends of mine. This is Dr. Kimball MD.” He pointed to a middle aged man about six feet tall with hair graying at the temples. “And this is Mr. Konishi vice president of Samurai Pharmaceuticals.” He then indicated a slightly younger Japanese man about five foot eight with very dark hair. After shaking their hands we began to realize that this was no ordinary ‘you failed’ kinda talk “They were in the class room when you gave your presentation.” “Yes, we were very impressed with your presentation” Dr. Kimball stated still with that same stupid poker face. “Tell me, what will you gentlemen be doing after you graduate in two weeks?” Mr. Konishi asked. “I have a couple of job interviews out west, but no solid plans sir.” I said. “No set plans for me either.” Jimmy replied “We can’t speak for Bobby.” At this, all three men smiled. That completely threw me for a loop. “The reason I ask is this, I would like to hire you." Mr Konishi said, "All three of you. You would start out at 75k with full benefits.” “That’s extremely generous of you sir but may I ask, doing what, sir?” I said. “You three would be working with me and a hand full of other doctors and engineers to create the first robotic prosthetic limbs.” Said Dr. Kimball. “We were looking for a few good ‘young’ engineers for fresh ideas. That was one of the reasons we asked our friend Dr. Hartwell to form a semester project like this. You three are the best we’ve seen.” 'Man I love my life right now!' _________________________________________________________________ (An hour or so later at the hospital) “…. so, that’s what happened.” I said. “Sweet! We passed our class and got jobs and I...... have a gorgeous nurse. Well Hellllooooo Nurse!” Bobby belted out while slurring his words. He was still a little loopy from the meds. “ Yea yea, rub it in. Oh, an they wanted ya to call'em as soon as ya get out ah here for a phone interview. Ya promise to do that?” Jimmy asked as he handed him the business card. “Cross my hart, hope to fly, stick a cupcake in my eye!” Bobby exclaimed. Jimmy and I gave each other a confused look as we were wondering if our friend was doped up on something other than what the hospital gave him. “What was that look for guys?” “Are you really a three year old and you didn't tell us man? That sounds like something my little niece would say and she’s five.” I stated. “No, that’s something Pinkie Pie would say” Now we were really confused. “Whooo..die pie?” “Pinkie pie. My favorite of the mane six.” “Ok now I’m scared to ask but what is the main six and are you sure they don’t have your morphine drip on too high?” “It’s a cartoon show. My little Ponies.” “…” “…” “You serious?” “Yea” Hahahahahahahahahaahahahahaha! "Come on guys! Its a great show?" “Do you..ha.. have your..ha.. wallet around?” I asked. “Yea its sitting over there. Why?” “cause I’m going to have to take your man card” I replied as I was looking through his wallet. Jimmy and I continued laughing at him. “Hey! Its not that bad of a show. In fact most of the fans aren’t little or girls.” He explains about this fairy tale land of ponies where these six friends are the elements of harmony that defeat the evil in the land though the process of learning about the power of friendship. He talked about all the creatures. How pegasi, unicorns, earth ponies, diamond dogs, griffins, and dragons are the main species in the land, and something called a manticore that resembles a lion scorpion thing with wings or something. By this time Jimmy and I could barely even breathe much less talk as we were rolling on the floor laughing. A nurse came by and told us to keep it down. Anyway, despite his choice of cartoon shows, we just love to tease Bobby cause it’s so much fun and he takes it so well as well as making it to easy. “Oh well, we better get goin. Looks like the weather’s getting bad” I gasp as I try to catch my breath. “Yea, I have to go to Stumphouse mountain to meet some buddies of mine. Wanna come?” Jimmy asks. “Sure, better get there and back before that storm really hits.” “Lets go then, see ya Bobby” “See ya Bobby” Bobby just waved at us as the ‘gorgeous’ nurse came in and gave him his meds. As we headed deeper in to the mountains, the rain started coming down in sheets. “So who are we meeting?” I ask. “An ol' high school buddy of mine. He was in the area so we wanted to meet up one more time before I graduate. We had planed on hikin but it looks like that’s out'ah the equation.” As we continued up the mountain the rain came even harder. Jim’s old Toyota 4runner was having a hard time keeping traction as we crawled up the road. 'Man when was the last time he changed his tires?' We saw people pulled over on the side of the road with their flashers on to wait it out. The biggest problem with the rain is we have had so much of it lately. The ground couldn’t absorb much more. Dark rivulets of mud started to mix in with the rivers of water on the road. Luckily we made to Stumphouse tunnel without being washed away. Jimmy’s buddy was actually still there waiting for us. “He said he tried tuh call us but the storm messed up his signal” Jimmy explained when he made it back to the car. “He said that he’s in the area for a few more days so we can catch him later.” “Nice,” I said “lets see if this old beater of yours can get us down without killing us.” “You got it.” The road was even worse going down the mountain than it was coming up, and the old car was having a dickens of a time staying on the slick mud covered road. 'Wait! Mud covered?' Just as I saw the signs, I yelled “Jimmy look out!” Right then a wave of mud and water hit us from the driver's side. I felt the bottom give out from underneath us and the whole world turned upside down and then … nothing. Best Day Ever“HOLY CRAP!!!! I’m late!” I had 30 minutes to make it to campus to set up for my presentation and I just woke up. I set another geniuses book of world records (breaking my previous one of 2.3 seconds) for getting dressed and brushing my teeth (a shower will have to wait). Then applying generous amounts of deodorant, I mentally review my check list. Computer, projector, wallet, keys, iphone, pocket knife and power cords for all of this. Let’s see, check, check and check. I sprinted through the rain to the bus stop and made it just as the bus pulls up. Good, now I have a 30 minute bus ride to fully wake up and review just what my presentation is on. I am a Mechanical engineering student at Clemson University (GO TIGERS!!!). I have a presentation to give in two hours on robotics, a topic I absolutely love by the way, and my professor really set the bar high on this one. Each group had 3 members and we had to design, build, and program a robot that mimicked human motion. Bob, Jimmy and I chose the hands and forearms. We had them working with wireless sensors attached to these gloves that went half way up your arm. When you moved, they mimicked your motion, so we had this smart idea to give the presentation and then demonstrate them playing a key board. I drew the short straw so I have to actually give the power point we have prepared hence the projector. The other two get to set up and play with uh… I mean give the demonstration. Oh great I finally made it. “Hey man! Oh… you look like you got run over by a truck.” “Morning Jimmy and thanks for the complement.” I added sarcastically. “You seen Bobby yet?” “No, he hasn’t shown up yet and he hasn’t called so I gue…” at that exact moment both our phones go off with a new text message. Sorry boys. Can’t make it. In the hospital now. My appendix burst last night. Key board and mounting stand in my apt. roommate is home. Tell Dr. Hartwell sorry. Good luck! Jimmy and I look back at each other and start freaking out. All three of us had been friends since sophomore year. We kept getting in the same classes together and had done a lot of projects together over the years. We were the three amigos. “What do we do now?!” “Ok Jimmy, you’re the one with a car so go to his apartment and get the stuff. I’ll stay here and continue setting up and beg Dr. Hartwell to give us more time.” “Right, I’ll be back in fifteen.” After explaining the situation to him and showing the text from Bobby, Dr. Hartwell moved our group to last, and agreed to give all of us full credit for what we earned as it was no one’s fault for Bobby’s condition. I sprinted back to our stuff and immediately began hooking up the remote and receiver for the arms. About that time, Jimmy made it back. “Well, his roommate confirmed that Bobby went to the hospital at 4 this morning. Oh, and here’s the mount and key board.” “Great! Dr. Hartwell moved us to last.” “Awesome, let’s do this.” We worked like mad men. While getting the interface set up for the arms and testing them one more time, we noticed that we had a minor flaw. Neither of us knew how to play a key board. That was Bobby’s part. “Great, now what do we do?” Jimmy asked. “Weeeee’ll…. we’ll improvise, ya know, ask for a volunteer or something.” Before we knew it, it was our turn. _________________________________________________________________________________________________ (20 minutes later) “Yeah!!!!! That was unbelievable! Did you see their faces?” “I know! Carter’s group looked like they just ate a mouthful of shi…” “Boys!” Dr. Hartwell called after us. “Yes sir?” “Yes sir?” “May I speak with you in my office please?” You know those times after a test that you feel you aced it and you go out and start celebrating and drinking it up with your buddies? Only to find out that you actually failed it miserably, and your stomach feels like it falls through the floor? Yeah, I was getting that feeling right about now. As we walked behind Dr. Hartwell, I looked over at Jim and saw he was feeling the same as me. Sometimes this professor can be a real hard ass. When we entered his office, we saw that there were two other people in the room. All three of them(including professor Hartwell) had on that same stern face that gave away nothing. Man, do these people all play poker together or do they practice that look in the mirror every morning? “Boys. I would like to introduce you to a couple of friends of mine. This is Dr. Kimball MD.” He pointed to a middle aged man about six feet tall with hair graying at the temples. “And this is Mr. Konishi vice president of Samurai Pharmaceuticals.” He then indicated a slightly younger Japanese man about five foot eight with very dark hair. After shaking their hands we began to realize that this was no ordinary ‘your failed’ kinda talk “They were in the class room when you gave your presentation.” “Yes, we were very impressed with your presentation” dr. Kimball stated still with that same stupid poker face. “Tell me, what will you gentlemen be doing after you graduate in two weeks?” Mr. Konishi asked. “I have a couple of job interviews out west, but no solid plans sir.” I said. “No set plans for me either.” Jimmy replied “We can’t speak for Bobby.” At this all three men smiled. That completely threw me for a loop. “The reason I ask is this, I would like to hire you. All three of you. You would start out at 75k with full benefits.” “That’s extremely generous of you sir but may I ask, doing what, sir?” I said. “You three would be working with me and a hand full of other doctors and engineers to create the first robotic prosthetic limbs.” Said Dr. Kimball. “We were looking for a few good ‘young’ engineers for fresh ideas. That was one of the reasons we asked our friend Dr. Hartwell to form a semester project like this. You three are the best we’ve seen.” Man I love my life right now. _________________________________________________________________________________________________ (an hour or so later at the hospital) “…. so, that’s what happened.” I said. “Sweet! We passed our class and got jobs and I have a gorgeous nurse” Bobby said. “ yea yea, rub it in. Oh, they want you to call them as soon as you get out of here for a phone interview. You promise to do that?” Jimmy asked as he handed him the business card. “Cross my hart, hope to fly, stick a cupcake in my eye!” Bobby exclaimed. Jimmy and I gave each other a confused look as we were wondering if our friend was still doped up on some medication. “What was that look for guys?” “Are we three, man? That sounds like something my little niece would say and she’s five.” “No, that’s something pinkie pie would say” Now we were really confused. “whooo..die pie?” “Pinkie pie. My favorite of the mane six.” “Ok now I’m scared to ask but what is the main six and are you sure they don’t have your morphine drip on too high?” “It’s a cartoon show. My little Ponies.” “…” “…” “You serious?” “Yea” “Do you have your wallet around?” I asked. “Yea its sitting over there. Why?” “cause I’m going to have to take your man card” I replied as I was lookin through his wallet. Jimmy and I start laughing at him. “Hey! Its not that bad of a show. In fact most of the fans aren’t little or girls.” He explains about this fairy tale land of ponies where these six friends are the elements of harmony that defeat the evil in the land though the process of learning about the power of friendship. He talked about all the creatures. How pegasi, unicorns, earth ponies, diamond dogs, griffins, and dragons are the main species in the land, and something called a manticore that resembles a lion scorpion thing with wings or something. By this time Jimmy and I could barely even breathe much less talk as we were rolling on the floor laughing. A nurse came by and told us to keep it down. Anyway, despite his choice of cartoon shows, we just love to tease bobby cause it’s so much fun and he takes it so well. “Oh well, we better get goin. Looks like the weather’s getting bad” I gasp as I try to catch my breath. “yea, I have to go to stumphouse mountain to meet some buddies of mine. Wanna come?” Jimmy asks. “Sure, better get there and back before that storm hits.” “Lets go then, see ya Bobby” “See ya bobby” Bobby just waved at us as the ‘gorgeous’ nurse came in and gave him his meds. As we headed deeper in to the mountains, the rain started coming down in sheets. “So who are we meeting?” I ask. “An old high school buddy of mine. He was in the area so we wanted to meet up one more time before I graduate. We had planed on hiking but it looks like that’s out of the equation.” As we continued up the mountain the rain came even harder. Jim’s old Toyota 4runner was having a hard time keeping traction. “Man when was the last time he changed his tires?” We saw people pulled over on the side of the road with their flashers on to wait it out. The biggest problem with the rain is we have had so much of it lately. The ground couldn’t absorb much more. Dark rivulets of mud started to mix in with the rivers of water on the road. Luckily we made to stumphouse tunnel without being washed away. Jimmy’s buddy was actualy still there waiting for us. “He said he tried to call us but the storm messed up his signal” jimmy explained when he made it back to the car. “he said that he’s in the area for a few more days so we can catch him later.” “Nice,” I said “lets see if this old beater of yours can get us down without killing us.” “You got it.” The road was even worse going down the mountain and the old car was having a dickens of a time staying on the slick mud covered road. Wait! Mud covered? Just as I saw the signs, I yelled “Jimmy look out!” Right then a wave of mud and water hit us from the passenger side. I felt the bottom give out from underneath us and the whole world turned upside down and then … nothing. Worst Day EverPain! Why!? Why do I hurt so much? Why are my limbs so heavy? I slowly opened my eyes. All I saw was mud and lots of it about 4 inches from my face. “Wow, that was close.” I tried to raise my arms but then realized they were already above my head. Uh, so this is how Luke Skywalker felt when he woke up upside down after getting mauled in the face by a big snow monster. My face was killing me probably from the mud punching holes in Jimmy’s windshield and the glass cut me. I wouldn’t know for sure until I could look at myself in a mirror. “Hey Jimmy! You all right, man?” I look over and receive two of the biggest shocks of my life. The first one was a big furry mass of orange right next to my face and reflexively tried to move it out of my way when it moved and ended up smashing in to my eye. When it kept moving and I kept trying to swat at it, that’s when I realized that it was attached to me. Is that my arm!? As soon as I calmed down and managed to stop hitting myself in the face. I found out that it was my arm. “What the…?” As soon as I was able to look past this strange new member of my body, I saw the second biggest shock of my life. In the driver’s seat, where Jimmy used to be, hanging upside down was a mass of orange, black, brown and green. I couldn’t figure out what it was until it shifted slightly and moaned. WHAT THE… THAT IS JIMMY!! And he looks hurt pretty bad. Without thinking about it I reached up and unbuckled my seat belt. Bad idea! I forgot the car was still upside down. I had to half dig half fight my way right side up as best I could while sporting a headache to rival all migraines. Once I was right side up, I got a better look at our situation. The whole driver’s side of the vehicle was caved in pretty bad with the windows smashed and filled that half of the car with mud. First priority, get Jimmy down and see how he is. That’s when I got a better look at him. He has orange fur with black stripes coated in mud and this green fluid that seems to be leaking from multiple cuts on his body. It took me a second to realize that that was his blood. HOLY FREAKING COW! That’s a lot of blood! I reach for him and try to get him down but his buckle is jammed. I keep tugging as panic starts to really set in as I see just how hurt he is. I keep pulling and yanking, trying to break it! Nothing is working! Getting panicky and frustrated, I pull my arm back and hit the damn thing! I barely had time to catch him when the seat belt gave way. I gingerly set him down on as level of a surface as I could, considering the floor used to be the roof of the car and it was full of mud and school supplies. I grabbed his backpack and used it as a back rest for him. We were quickly getting very cramped for space and, what I felt like, breathable air. That’s when I noticed that he had a massive head wound on his left side and that’s where most of the blood came from. I tore up the tattered remains of my shirt and tied it to his head trying to stop the flow of blood. I had no idea how much blood he lost, and had no idea how long we had been in there but we had to get out, and fast. The best place to start, I felt, was the back window of the little 4 runner. “This is gunna be awkward buddy, sorry.” I said as I pushed all our gear up around him so I could have a good solid kick at the glass. I had to kick it three times before I got cracks in it. I had to kick another four times before I could reach over and start pulling the glass back. Once I got the glass moved out of the way, I had to try and dig us out. The best way was up and out. Unfortunately I had no place to stick the dirt except in the car with us. O well, can’t be helped. Luckily the soil was still pretty loose. I dug at a furious pace for about ten minutes when the dirt all of a sudden gave way. I saw light and the air smelled sooo… great! I was beside myself with glee! “Huzzah! Jimmy we’re gunna make!” I shouted as I renewed my efforts to widen the tunnel. I was finally able to squeeze myself out and I soon had the rest of the back hole uncovered. I had to remove quite a bit of mud from the inside of the car as well as most of our gear before I had enough room to get Jimmy out. I noticed that the impromptu bandage I made was completely stained green and now was covered in mud as was everything else. This isn’t good we need to find some shelter. I looked around and tried to find the best way to go to look for shelter. We were in a ravine stuck between two very steep slopes and the only way out was up the very slippery looking sides. Well, up and out! I sling Jimmy across my shoulders and start climbing just as it began to rain again. It took me over an hour of precious time, time that we didn’t have, to find a small cave that was out of the weather. Once I set jimmy down I rechecked his bandage and the bleeding still hadn’t stopped. I started to rip up his shirt for more bandages until I could find something better. He was starting to het cold. Fire, I need a fire! I ran back to the car and dug through everything. Thankfully I came across a road side emergency kit that had been buried in the mud but the contents were still clean. There was a small first aid kit, some water bottles, granola bars, a blanket and some roadside flares. I rushed back with my precious cargo trying to look for some dry wood somewhere to build a fire with. I found some and with my haul I made it back to the cave. I needed light so I lit the fire first by setting the wood in a pile and popping a flare. Now I was able to see. After putting the blanket on him I removed the filthy wraps and began to clean. The more I cleaned the better I saw that he had dark orange fur with black stripes that started near the center of his face and streaked back and around his head, and all over his body. His face had elongated and the top of his head became lower with his ears sitting on top. His mouth now hat long sharp teeth and he had whiskers out the sides of his face. His hands and feet were paws but with longer fingers than a cat and a thumb. He was a freakin tiger! Needless to say this was wiredin me out because I too had the fur and claws. I had no Idea what my face looked like but as I was moving around I stepped backwards and hissed in pain. Man that hurt! I looked back and saw what I had stepped on. Poking out the bottom of my shorts was a freakin tail! “Stop getting distracted!” I tell myself. As I was cleaning the cut I noticed that his head actually had an indent in the side where he had been struck. I felt completely helpless at this point. All I could do was finish cleaning it and hope that he woke up without much brain damage. Once Jimmy was cleaned (mostly) and bandaged, I finally could take care of my wounds. From what I could tell, I had a nasty gash that went from the top of my left eyebrow down across the eye over my muzzle and ended near my lower jaw. The rest was all smaller cuts and bruising. I cleaned myself up as best I could and bandaged my eye like a pirate (I looked like a freakin bad ass). I noticed that I now had retractable claws that were as sharp as any knife I’ve ever owned. They came in useful when I was trying to cut strips for bandages. So I used them to cut a hole in the back of my shorts so I would’nt be sitting on my tail the whole time. The colors everywhere also seemed more vibrant even in the dim fire light. I swear everything seemed to have a faint outline to it including me and Jimmy. The who, what, when, where, how and why questions flew around in my skull. I knew we weren’t in South Carolina anymore. But as to how we got turned into tigers, I had no idea. Wait, he..he he – Clemson .. tigers. The irony of the situation became apparent. If my mood wasn’t so sour I would have laughed my head off. I threw more wood in the fire. I realized just how exhausted I really was. My mind was numb from sensory overload and my eyes were starting to get heavy. I shook myself awake. "No! I have to be awake to take care of Jimmy. Snap out of it!” Jimmy hadn’t moved this whole time, but I could still see him breathing. I was scared to death. What if he woke up and needed something and I wasn’t awake to get it for him. This and a hundred other thoughts fought in my brain for dominance as I closed my eyes and fell asleep. “Wo, I did not just do that!” I jerked awake from my mind yelling at me. It was just beginning to be dawn as the world outside the cave grew lighter. I threw some more logs on the few coals and soon had the fire built back up. I looked over at Jimmy and noticed that his eyes where open. I sighed with relive until I noticed that they had a glassy look to them like he had a high fever and he was fidgeting like he couldn’t get comfortable. He looked and me and said one word. “Water” I jumped to his side and put one of the last water bottles to his lips as he drank like it was his last. I had to take it away and force him to slow down before I would let him continue to drink. As he was drinking I could feel the heat coming off of him. When he was done, he fell back asleep. I needed to find some more water and preferably some help. Seeing that he was alright for the moment I got up and went outside. The sun was just over the horizon and what I saw truly took my breath way. The range of mountains we were in was truly majestic. The air almost seemed tropical. The landscape was completely covered in lush greenery with a mist hanging in the tree tops. The birds and insects were making a symphony of perfect ambiance. I stood there admiring the view and at the same time noticing the humidity and temperature start to rise. This is going to get miserable. I shook myself out of my stupor and set off in search of water. As I trudged along (and trudging it was), I realized that my shoes (or what’s left of them) didn’t feel right and slowed me down. I took them off and noticed that my feet or paws I guess I should say, felt so much better without them. Hmm… it feels so right even though back home I couldn’t stand being in the forest without shoes. O well, I need water and get back quick. I soon came across the most majestic waterfall I had ever seen. It started at a single point and then fanned out in to a gentle cascading wall as it then fell 25 ft. down into a pool of the clearest water I had ever seen. “Perfect!” I reached down and filled up the water bottles and taking a drink myself. It was light drinking pure sweet wet sunshine. I quenched my thirst and saw some fish in the pool. Wonderful! Dinner too! I sat there at the edge and tried to catch some fish with my paws, but that didn’t work out so well. I was getting frustrated and hungry and I needed to get back. Taking one last vengeful swipe at the fish who mocked my hunger, I was surprised when my claw caught one of them and flipped it on to the bank. Quickly recovering I jumped on it before it could wiggle back into the pool. With my prize and filled water bottle in hand I started back. I was almost to the entrance of the cave when I heard a pained cry from inside. Dropping everything I rushed inside. Jimmy was thrashing about in incredible pain. “Jimmy! Jimmy look at me!” I held a water bottle up and poured it onto his face. The shock of it calmed him down enough to drink. His fever had only gotten worse. I made him drink slow long drinks. I talked to him. I told him about the wonderful mountains we were in, the mess that his car is and how I don’t think his insurance would cover it. I told him to get better so we could see Bobby and tease him some more about his ridiculous little girls show. He chuckled over that one but soon stopped as the pain in his head got to him. He looked me in the eye and I could see them become clear like they were before this whole mess started. I could see the real Jimmy fighting through the haze of injury and fever. “Thank you” With that he closed his eyes and went to sleep. His breathing was slow and shallow. Two more times this happened in as many hours. The third time it happened he looked at me and smiled and once more said. “Thank you my friend.” I could feel his paw weakening in my grip as he went to sleep, never to wake up. I cried manly tears for my friend. I buried him in not too far from the waterfall. I had to dig the grave with my paws which was all I had and then I moved a big stone over the spot to mark his grave. I then went to the car still partially buried in the mud slide and took inventory of all I had. There were both his and my backpacks. Mine held my laptop and projector and my iphone and the radio device for our robots. His held a couple engineering books that he was going to sell back. Not needing the books, I took those out. I fired up the laptop and thankfully it came to life. Thank God for Industrial strength shock proof computers. Yea I’m really hard on my electronics. My iphone worked but I couldn’t test the projector cause it required a plug. I took what was left of the road side kit and added it into a backpack. I went looking through his glove box and found a smith and Wesson .45 with two full clips. What the!? A joke came to mind about the old lady who got pulled over and the cop saw a .22 sitting in her front seat. He then asked her to relinquish all firearms. She handed him the .22 then pulled a 9mm. from the glove compartment, a .45 from under her seat, a 38 special from the side door pocket and a tactical pump shotgun from the trunk. When the cop asked what she was afraid of, she said absolutely nothing. The problem was that my paws were too big to hold and pull the trigger. Well that sucks. I decided to take it anyway. Maybe I could modify it later. I scraped whatever electronics I could off of what was left of the robots and decided it was time to head out. Where do I go from here? North, yea, north sounds good. Meet the Locals - good and bad“Whaaaaahhhhhhooooo!!!!!” This was more fun than riding a humpback whale in a hurricane! I could do this all day. And what was I doing you might ask. I was running a natural obstacle course at full speed and I was agile. I used to run a little bit back home but this was something new. I could keep up a steady 2 legged run at about 15-18 mph and when I drop to all fours! Whew, look out!! 40 mph baby, through the woods and mountains no less. My reflexes were quicker, my senses sharper. (but I was still down to my one good eye at the moment). I was able to dodge trees as soon as I saw them. I was even able to climb them and run through the branches without slowing down much and I just jumped over a twenty foot wide chasm like it wasn’t even there. Yeah, with my luck I was going to crash and burn tonight when I stopped. I’ll probably be so sore tomorrow I won’t be able to move for a few days, but at the time I didn’t care. I just did what ever I wanted. If I had a cobra I would have eaten that to. I stopped around mid afternoon by another river just as it plunged off a cliff. I cooled off and took another drink. I had an excellent view of what looked like a plain stretching off into the west as far as the eye can see. I was admiring the view when my stomach started to growl. Hmmmm.... I wonder if there is anything to eat out there. Maybe I could find a dear or a bird of some sort nesting in the grass. Heaven only knows I haven't come across anything to eat in this forest besides fish and monkeys and monkeys are to tough to eat and fish is getting old. (I've been traveling already for about a week. did I mention that? oops!). "Well I have nothing else better to do." and with that said, I started my decent to the plain below. ________________________________________________________________________ (earlier that day) "Zimba! Where are you going?" "No where Mom! As if you would let me go anywhere outside of the village." the young Zebra added under his breath. "I heard that!" Zimba flinched. Moms are scary sometimes. It almost seems like they have have superpony ears that can hear a piece of grass being blow in the wind 5 miles away. He couldn't understand how his mom is able to hear anything at all much less his mutterings. His mother was the village shaman and so she would spend most her days experimenting and making new potions and remedies that would sometimes blow up violently in her face as she mixed them. Especially the potions she would mix using the strange herbs his sister would send them. "So, where are you going?" his mother asks in a gentler tone, sensing that her son was upset about something. He looked around the hut trying to find an excuse to give his mother as he didn't know where he was going. He was just so stinking board being cooped up in the village. He started stroking the necklace he was wearing. It was a gift from his father on his last birthday. It had had little smooth pieces of dark wood with ruins on it to protect and guide the hart of a Zebracan warrior. He was proud of the gift and was always reminded of the Greatness of Momboza, the Chief, his father. That's when, he had the thought. "To go find Dad" he tells his mother as he slowly walks out of the hut. His mother sighs as she continues to stir the brew she was making. She knew her young colt has a restless spirit but with all the trouble plaguing the village by a creature that has settled in the plain surrounding them it was too dangerous for anypony outside of the magic enhanced boundaries of the village. 'I'm sorry my son' she thought, ' but untill this evil... thing is killed or driven off,' She felt that thought just hang there. She knew that her magic wasn't strong enough to drive this creature away. It could barley keep it at bay. Even now she could feel its influence as its mere presence next to the village wares down her enchantments. She has to, almost daily, renew them in addition to making portable enchantments for the village warriors who have to venture out into the plain. It was slowly wearing her out, and she was afraid for her husband Momboza as well. He, as the village chief, was even now with the village elders coming up with a plan to drive it away by force. she shivers and prays to the goddess of the sun to protect those she loves in this time of trial and darkness. __________________________________________________________________ " But Momboza! That's suicide! The Catoblepas cannot be run off with a show of brute force. It will kill us all." said one of the tribal elders. The arguments and plans had been going on for five hours strait and they had gotten no where. There was a lot of fear in the room as they continued to discuss the problem. Frankly Momboza couldn't blame them too much. To be honest, the first time he had seen the beast he had been so frightened that if he hadn't of been leading a group of his warriors, he would have turned tail and raced back to his own hut and not come out for two days. And, he is the chief and subsequently the greatest and strongest warrior in the village. 'And my son is growing up to be just as fine of a warrior' he thinks proudly at that last part. His thoughts then return to the meeting at hand. "Well then, do you have a better plan?" " What if we tried to make a peace offering to it or bait it into a trap or have your wife create a spell to drive it off!" As soon as he said that last part, the village elder knew he had gone too far. Momboza's patience had held firm most of the meeting but that last suggestion caused it to snap and he got mad. "You think it is that easy?" he said in a low deep voice that was dripping with venom. "We have tried to make peace offerings and they have been denied. It has seen every trap we have tried to lay for it and has avoided them, and MY WIFE!" he was yelling by this point and took a deep breath to compose himself. "My wife has done everything in her power to make it so you" he points a hoof at the elder "can sleep peacefully at night. It has exhausted her to the point that I not only fear for her health but for her life, and you dare demand more from her?" The pain and worry evident in his eyes as well as his voice. "I am sorry Momboza." the elder said. "I did not know that she is in danger from this." Momboza snorts the last of his anger out. "Until this beast, this demon is gone, every Zebra is in danger." __________________________________________________________________ Zimba had heard enough. The meetings of the tribal leaders were supposed to be private, but the lose woven sides of the hut and the guards that only watched the entrance made sneaking around back and listening to the meeting easy for a young colt. He had been unnerved by what he had learned in those few minutes. He knew the village had been in danger for about a month now hence the restricted access out side the boarders of the village, but he had no idea that it was this serious. He also didn't know about how tired his mother had become in protecting the village. She was very good at hiding it. He felt a little guilty now about giving his mother a hard time earlier. What was it they called it? A Catoblepas? Yea, that's it. Even as he thought of the name, it sent chills down his spine. He remembered those bed time stories that his mother and sister would tell him, about a beast so hideous and ugly that one smell of its breath could paralyze you and if you looked into its eyes it was certain death. That last part had to be an exaggeration though, I mean come on. Dying just by looking something in the eye? Please. In fact, the more he thought about it, the less scary it became and the more he was certain that he could just run it off. I mean after all he was the strongest warrior in training, and he was graduating soon. He had even beaten most of the instructors and they were full fledged warriors. As he had been thinking about different battle plans for taking this ... beast on, he noticed that he had ended up right back at his own hut. He looked around and his mother was gone. 'Hmmm... must be out collecting more herbs.' he thought as he was looking around. That's when he saw it. His fathers war staff was hanging over his parents bed. This staff was the proud symbol of a great warrior and chief. The strange dark tattooed wood seemed to call to him, he raised his hoof as if to touch it. "If I had such a fine weapon as that, I would not be afraid of anything." He looked around to see if his mother was coming back any time soon and he stared at it a little more and then with his mind made up, he grabbed the staff and ran out the door and to the edge of the village so fast that no zebra saw him leave. "Now, I will track this beast down and show him what a true zebracan warrior can do." he proclaimed as he trotted off into the plain. He searched and searched for what felt like hours. The sun was beginning to sink low into the sky. He had traveled so far that he could see a range of green mountains far off on the horizon. Now that he thought about it, he had never been this far from the village before. He was beginning to wonder if he could find his way back before night fall. "Na... I'll be fine. I can find my way back." but for some reason he was still antsy. It felt like he was being watched. The sun seemed to speed up and it started to get darker quicker. 'I better get home now' he thought. He was now seriously questioning if his hasty flight from the village had been wise. As he started to turn back, he heard a huge bellowing roar! he looked over and there it was, it had to be it. The Catoblepas. He had never been so scared of anything in all his life. He could see it and he could smell it now. It reeked. he was beginning to rethink his foalish notions about the stories being an exaggeration. Right now he was glad that he couldn't see the eyes because he just might drop dead if he saw those hideous things. He took his fathers war staff in his trembling hooves and got in a defensive position. That's when he heard a rustling in the tall grass behind. Now he knew he was doomed. Danger in front and danger in back. he hoped his death would be painless. Just at that moment the Beast charged and Zimba braced himself for the assault. A very predatory roar was heard directly behind him. Zimba almost pissed himself when from out of the sky it seemed, came this huge orange mass of fur and claws and it charged straight at the catoblepas! __________________________________________________________________ "Damn it! Is there nothing to eat in this place!" I grumble to myself. I had been hunting around in this grass all afternoon and there was nothing. There were animal tracts but they all seemed to be a month old at least. It wasn't much longer though that I hear the grass rustling like something was coming near. I hid and silently waited for it. It was a Zebra. Yes! my luck had just changed. I was going to eat well tonight. I crouched down getting ready to pounce, and what came next floored me. The zebra spoke! "Na... I'll be fine. I can find my way back." the zebra said. I was stunned and at the same time my curiosity was peaked. A talking zebra? Well I'm a talking tiger so I guess this makes sense. 'Ah man! Now I can't eat it' I could never eat anything that has conscious thought. O well, I suppose I'm not any worse off than I was before. My hunger temporarily forgotten, I decided to follow him, umm... well I think it was a him anyway. He looked like he was kinda nervous. He kept looking back in a certain direction and the darker it got the more nervous he became. He then turned back the way he came and right then I catch a whiff of something on the breeze. I almost threw up. It smelled like 25 different kinds of wrong. Not two seconds later, a huge bellowing roar breaks the silence of the evening air. The zebra spins and faces this huge beast. it looks like a giant rhino but it had a bigger broader head with horns on the top and tusks out the side it had what seemed to be scales going down his back and a long reptilian whip like tail. It was ugly and it looked like the zebra, No! The zebra soon had a big stick in his hooves and it looked like he was going to fight this behemoth that is easily 10 times his size! I'm not sure that I had that kind of balls! This thing was easily 5 times my own size. I then noticed that the zebra was trembling. Oh boy, I better give him a paw. I hurriedly take off my back packs throw them to the side. The behemoth then starts to charge. I was just beginning to wonder what I was getting myself into when all of a sudden I get this feeling inside of me. It was strange. It was powerful. I felt like I had to let it out. I felt my muscles clench into tight iron bands. and I surprised myself when I roared a load almost scream type roar as I leaped over the zebra and charged strait at the monster. I rushed at it with the force of a furry freightliner. I tackled it and to my surprise I actually stopped its forward advance as my momentum knocked it over to the ground. I then began trying to bite it and claw at it. It was tipped over on it side and the hide on its back was too tough for me to get to so I attacked its softer but still tough belly. I thought I was doing a lot of damage but it soon recovered from my surprise assault and it hit me off with its tail. I was laying on the ground stunned and bleeding (that monster reopened the cut on my eye and was pouring blood all down my face and soaking the make shift eye patch I had on) when all of a sudden I see those huge tusks coming towards me. I quickly try to scramble away as it tries to stomp and gore and beat me to a bloody pulp. It kept roaring and hitting and as I kept blocking those tusks and giving my own roars and hisses. I was trying to strike back when and where I could. It was then I noticed the smell again only it was 20 times stronger. It started to get to me. I could feel my mind starting to fog up and I just began to bit and claw randomly at it's head while trying to avoid those tusks. I must have scored a few lucky hits as it would occasionally roar in pain and I would get drenched in blood. When It roared is when I noticed the smell got stronger. It was its breath! I could feel my hits getting weaker and my reflexes getting slower as my mind got foggier. I couldn't see. Finally, it had me pinned down and I thought for sure I was a goner when all of a sudden I hear a "THWAK!" and a roar. The beast steps away from me and I get a breath of fresh air. It felt like getting a bucket of ice water dumped on me. The fog in my mind lifted and I wiped the blood out of my good eye. Standing over me was the zebra. He had just delivered a powerful blow to the back of the monsters head with that stick. I see the monster growling and roaring in pain. It had blood all over its face. It looked like I may have gotten lucky and gored out its eyes. That blow seemed to hurt it more than anything else. I got an idea. I stand up on my two legs and look down at the zebra (I'm a good 3 feet taller than he is). "May I see that please?" I ask the Zebra looks at me with surprise. I can't tell if its because of how tall I am or that I just spoke to him. He nods his head and gives me the staff. I grab it and I felt a bit of a buzz coming from it like its alive or something. It felt... right. The beast was trying to charge again, but since it couldn't see it was having a much harder time. I run towards it and I feint to one side as I go for the other. I jumped up and I brought the stick down as hard as I could at the base of the skull where it connects with the neck. There was a massive explosion as the staff shattered in my paws. I was thrown backward and then... darkness. ________________________________________________________________ Coming up with a decent monster was tough. There arn't very many African monsters that I could find outside of Egyptian culture. lots of demons but few monsters. Here is the link where I found it at.http://www.mythicalcreatureslist.com/mythical-creature/Gorgon+-+African Where?'aaaawwwwww, my head.' I think as my skull throbs like a drum. I lay there trying to remember what happened. 'Lets see, there was the zebra with the stick, the mutated rhinoceros, the fight, and then the ... explosion?' Where had that come from? 'uuuhhhh, my head hurts. Why does it feel like someone is still beating on it?' Wait a minute! I lay there for a little bit when I soon realize that I am actually hearing real drums. What the?I open my eyes, well eye anyway, and I saw a lot of dark blurry shapes. I had to blink a few times before my vision became clear. I was laying on some sort of woven grass mat in some sort of a hut. There were funny looking masks hanging on the walls and a giant cauldron in the middle with something cooking in it. I took a whiff. It smelled wonderful. I couldn't remember when the last time I ate was. I hear some voices from outside coming back towards the hut. I look towards the entrance just as the zebra who I had helped had walked in. He stopped and his eyes opened in surprise when he noticed I was awake and was looking at him. He stared at me and I got a better look at him. He was about three and a half tall and had enormous eyes that took up most of the front of his face and his head was rounder than a normal zebra's and his muzzle was a lot shorter. He also had on what looked like a wooden necklace. He looked at me and without saying a word turned around and left. It wasn't half a minute later when he comes back with in with four other zebras. All of them where taller than he was and three of them where decked out in face paint and had big staffs like the one the young zebra had. The fourth one was shorter than the other three but still taller than the zebra I had helped. She (well at least I'll assume its a she for now) had on a massive amount of metal ring around her neck and hooves. She moves over to my side as I try to sit up. She gets right up into my face and just stares at me. I try not to show it but she was starting to creep me out. "I see no evil intentions in this creature." she says as she backs away. The three with the staffs visibly relax. "What are you, creature?" she asks as she makes her way to the cauldron. I think about it for a minute "I guess I'm a tiger." "You guess? Don't you know what you are?" "Hey, I haven't been like this for very long. One minute I'm with my friend and the next I'm waking up in a mud slide looking like this." At this the three visibly tense up again. "There are more of you?" the biggest one asked. "Where are they? What do you intend to do here, tiger? Speak up!" he demanded. "There are no others. I don't even know where here is!" "You just said you came here with a friend. You keep changing your story so obviously you are lying!" "HE'S DEAD!" I yell at him. I take a deep breath to calm down. "He didn't survive his injuries from the mudslide." I look away from him as he hangs his head in embarrassment. I smell something good as a bowl of, porridge it looks like, is shoved under my nose. I look up and see the zebra mare handing me the food. "I know losing one you hold dear is hard and I am sorry for it." I take it as she glares at the big one. "You, my dear husband, should listen more before you accuse an innocent creature of ill intentions. You most of all should be grateful to this creature. He not only slew an enemy of this village and therefore saving all our lives, but he also saved your son." she adds, pointing a hoof over to the young colt who looked almost as ashamed as his father. "So where are you from?" turns to me and takes the now empty bowl to go refill it. "I don't know in relation to here. Heck I don't even know where here is. You wouldn't happen to have a map would you?" "I got it!" came the young one's voice as all of a sudden a scroll is spread out on the ground in front of me. I look at him and he is grinning from ear to ear. "So, what is your name, my very brave friend?" "I'm Zimba, and I'm not that brave, not like you." he added dejectedly. I almost choke on the porridge. "What do you mean your not brave? You were fixing to take down a beast at least ten times your size. That takes some real guts pal." by this time his parents were listening with greater interest. "Besides, you saved my life when you hit it when you did." Now his parents were staring in wide eyed shock at their son when they heard this. "I wasn't able to breathe or see clearly and it almost had me." He looks down in embarrassment. "Thank you." he whispers. "Oh, and what was that explosion at the end from? I wasn't expecting that." Once more his face takes on a look of awe. "You shattered my husband's war staff and they are enchanted to never break." came the reply from the mare. "No zebra or pony alive would be able to break it and you shattered it. the resulting stress caused the enchantment to escape all at once resulting in the explosion. In fact if we hadn't seen the explosion, we wouldn't have been able to find you till the morning." I nod my head until it all sinks in. "Wait, Enchanted? You mean like magic right?" "Of course." uuuuhhhh my head is starting to throb again. "Ok, where are we?" I ask getting back to the map. "We are right here." Zimba points to the south western edge of the map "on the Great Plains of the Equestrian Empire., and here is where my sister lives. I can't exactly remember the name of it." he points to a small town next to a forest near the center of the map. "Ponyville" I said. he looks up at me startled. "What?" I ask. "How did you know?" "It says it right there." "You can read this?" "Yeah, You can't?" "It is written in Equestrian not Zebracan." "So?" "You've been talking in fluent Zebracan. How do you know equestrian as well? I thought you said you've never been here before." "Hey, I've been talking in my native language called english and this is how we write." I say pointing to the map. Now he looks very confused. I understand the feeling. My head starts to hurt again as I rub it. The mare comes over and takes my dish and pushes me back down on the mat. "You need your rest. You'll feel better in the morning." with that said, I close my eyes and drift off into a dreamless sleep. ______________________________________________________________________ The next morning I wake up still tired and sore but at least I can think with out the blasted headache. I see the Mare from yesterday but I don't see her husband or his fellow guards or her son. "Morning, sleep well?" she asks. "Like a log." she gives me a puzzled look. "Oh, I forgot to thank you for patching me up and feeding me yesterday." She smiles as she comes over and takes the eye patch off. I blink away the blurriness as she says "Me, my family and this tribe owe you more than you know." She rubs a strong smelling ointment into my cut that hisses and stings for a second and the she rewraps it. "One more day and you should be better. You will still have a light scar there after this, but I didn't see any damage to the actual eye so you should still have your full sight." "Again, thank you. So.... whats your name? I don't remember if we got that far last night. I remember Zimba and I think heard your husband's but I cant remember his at the moment." "My name is Haiba. I am the shaman and enchantress for my tribe, and my husband is Momboza. He is the chief and leader of our tribe." she explains as she hands me a bowl of what looked like oat meal. "So what is your name o'mighty killer of the Catoblepas" I was about to answer when I was interrupted by a flash of black and white and a loud... "Hi mom! When's breakfast?" "Good morning, Zimba. You don't get yours till you have gathered all the fire wood for the day." "Awwwwwwww!" "Don't awwwwww me young colt, you know this is your punishment for running off the other day, and if you don't like it then I'm sure we could find you something harder to do." "How long is this going to last?" he whines. "Until your father and I say otherwise." "awwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwww" he groans as he sulks out of the hut. "Its nice to know that parenthood is universally the same everywhere." I said. "Oh. Do you have children?" "No ma'am, but what you just told him is something that my parents have said to me and my brothers countless times when we acted like that." we both kinda sit there with our own thoughts for a minute. "May I look at that map again?"She nods as I go over and look at it. "Where do you plan on going?" she asks after a few minutes. "I have no idea. Any one place seems to be as good as the next.to me." "If you decide to head north east towards Canterlot," she hesitates a moment "I have a daughter who lives out side a small town near there and would it be to much to ask if you could take her something from me, or if you aren't going all the way then could you drop it off at the nearest post office here in Clipton?" she says pointing on the map. I look at her face and I see worry there. Worry for what I'm not sure so I answered "Sure I'll take it." She relaxes a little but the worry is still there. If I'm going to carry anything I'll need to get my backpacks. Which reminds me... "Did anyone find my bags after fighting the monster." I ask. She hesitates for a second "We have found them but the chief is hesitant to return then since we do not understand the purpose for such strange devices." ______________________________________________________________________ (Authors notes) Just in case anyone has noticed or is wondering, Yes, I am doing everything in my power to avoid telling his name. The biggest reason was that for the first couple of chapters I didn't know what to call him and now i'm just trying to get away with seeing how far I can keep 'no name' going. why? you may ask. because I'm evil! Bwahahahahahaha! Please leave me comments. I need to know what i can do better. Five Easy StepsAnyone, who has ever had to talk to a shrink or knows any one who has ever had to talk to a shrink after any traumatizing experience, has heard that there are five basic steps that a person goes through when dealing with grief. Step 1. Denial Step 2. Anger/ rage Step 3. Bargaining Step 4. Depression Step 5. Acceptance At the moment, I am sitting in a twelve foot sink hole, tired, dirty and miserable while experiencing step number five. How did this come about you might ask. How did you end up in such a place? Both are very good questions. Let me answer those by explaining what happened earlier today or maybe it was yesterday. I don't know what time it is now or how much time has passed. *Flash Back* _________________________________________________________________________________ "Well, if Chief Momboza would allow me to show you what they are and how they work, then would he allow me to have them?" "I would have to talk with him but I believe that could be arranged." "Wonderful!" I laid back down and watched Haiba as she goes back to stirring something in that huge black cauldron. My mind drifts in and out of thoughts as I just lay there. My thoughts started out harmless enough. I began thinking about Zimba and how he kinda reminds me of myself at that age (which I was guessing to be about 16). Then they switched to my experiences at that age. The day I got my drivers license, the first time my parents allowed me to take the car out on my own, my junior prom, my first kiss, all came back to me. I then began to remember all the adventures I've had in my relatively short life. That fifty mile hike with the boy scouts was awesome. The time I went snorkeling off the Florida Keys was incredible. Those two summers I spent as a life guard at the water park. It wasn't the most fun job in the world but I got an awesome tan out of it. They also taught us some pretty hardcore first aid too. Every thing from dealing with a cut and dehydration to how to backboard a spinal injury in a pool was taught to us. It was not only taught but drilled into our heads on at least a weekly basis. Some of those scenarios they had us do were pretty life like, but they didn't teach us how to treat a head injury like Jimmy's. My stomach began to fell sour at this point so I changed my train of thought. My mind fast forwarded a few years to college. My very first vehicle I bought myself was in freshman year. It was a 1971 Dodge d100 pick up truck (hey, I am a southern boy after all). I affectionately called her Beatrix or Trixie for short. I remember switching out the transmission. She used to be an automatic but now she was a stick shift. I had to redesign and fabricate half the clutch linkage. That was a major turning point in my life. That project help me realize that being a mechanical engineer is what I wanted to do for the rest of my life. I started thinking about the first time I meet Jim and Bobby. We were sophomores taking the same AUTO CAD class. We actually started out as rivals. We each wanted to be the best designer, the best at creating 3D models, and we created masterpieces. The professor (I think) got tired of the competition, because we never left the man alone. One of the three of us was always calling, emailing, or pestering him in his office. So for his revenge, He assigned the three of us to work together on the final project. Chugga chugga Chugga chugga choo choo! Here we go round the bend! Oh no, we're going too fast! Aaaaaahhhhhhhh!!!! Crash!!!!! ........... It was a complete and total disaster. Yea, doing that project with two other egomaniacs was hell. We each had our own style of doing things. We argued and disagreed so much that nothing got done. We hurriedly threw something together the night before so we actually had something to turn in. Needless to say that we failed the final project. (and cue evil laughter of the professor). "Bwahahahahahaha!" We all still passed but it brought our grade down a bit. After that, we were walking out of class and across the muddy field, arguing all the way. When all of a sudden, Jimmy slipped and fell in the mud. Bobby and I looked at each other and just busted up laughing. It wasn't two seconds later that a couple of mud balls came and hit us right in the face. Bam! Thwack! We looked down and there was Jimmy with the biggest grin on his stupid face holding two more mud balls. The next thing we knew, all three of us were wrestling in the mud and having a good ol' time. From that moment on, we became the best of friends. After this memory, my mind started flashing forward again, and the memories started to come faster. That summer vacation with the family were we went hiking, the rugby class I took, all the times goofing of with my friends, the time I went to Washington DC, all of the memories for the last 2 years kept coming faster and faster and FASTER! The project assignment for the robots, the assembly and programing, the pizza eaten and jokes made while working on them, Bobby in the hospital.....job offer............rain and mud...........pain.............blood............JIMMY! I woke up with a gasp and was breathing heavily! My head hurt, and my stomach felt like it's tied up in knots. I began looking around and I realized that I'm not where I'm supposed to be. 'Since when does my apartment have masks hanging on the walls? Where is my bed? What the hell happened to my hands? Why is there a fire with a big cauldron in my living room? Holy Cow! What is a zebra doing in here?' 'Wait!' I took a deep breath to try and calm myself, and took one more look around the room. The memories from the past week and a half or so came back to me, and the feelings of dread and despair only made me feel worse. I needed to find a way to distract myself. "Are you alright?", asked a nice comforting voice from the other side of the room. Looking over, I realized it was the zebra asking the question. "Yes, I'm fine.......Haiba." I had almost forgotten her name in the muddled mess that was once my brain, and I started looking around for a distraction from the clutter of emotions drowning me. I turned and saw Haiba placing rocks carefully in the bubbling goop so it doesn't splash. "So, what are you working on?" I asked her as I shakily got up and joined her next to the big pot. "I am working on a special brew that will, among other things, give any inanimate object that is dipped in it the strength of stone while keeping its size and weight." She must have seen the confused look on my face so she continued. "The magic that my people have may be different from what your kind practice." She explained, "The strength for some types of magic come from inside ones own body. Like a unicorn's magic comes from inside his or herself and is channeled out through their horn." 'My kind? Magic? Unicorns? I'm starting to feel sick again.' "Others use magic from the environment. You can feel the ebb and flow of the magic in the land if you meditate long enough. They are able to take it into themselves and then project it back out to manipulate their surroundings as they see fit. That is how pegasi are able to move clouds and how earth ponies are able to grow food. But we zebras are different, We cannot absorb the magic of the land and then make it do what we want it to do." 'Pegasi and earth ponies? Next thing you know she'll probably say dragons are real as well.' 'Why is it so hard to breath in here?' "We zebras have a unique talent, you may say, of being able to harvest the magic of the land by making special brews and potions. Take this brew for instance, it has a base agent in it that is helpful in the extraction and mixing of the magics of the objects placed in it. It absorbs the strength from the stones and mixes it with the rest of the brew so when the staff is dipped in it then it will receive the strength of stone. There are also the leaves of several types of plants that have known healing powers. They help to give strength and stamina to the holder of the staff.... Hey, are you all right? You don't look so good." By this time, I was breathing so hard I was nearly hyperventilating. "Here, drink this." She gives me some clear liquid in a cup. I reach for it. "What is it?" "It is a tonic made from the shed scales of dragons. It'll help calm you nerves and stomach. ' Did she just say what I thought she said? Oh no! this can't be happening! I need to get out of here!' With that last thought, I dropped the cup and ran out the door. I ran through the village and out in to the savanna towards the late afternoon sun. I ran faster than I had ever run before, but it wasn't fast enough. So, I dropped down on all fours and quickly tripled my speed. It wasn't long before those pesky problems I was running from caught up to me. 'Where am I and How did I get here? Why did Jimmy have to die? Why am I a freaking tiger man? What is this place that has talking zebras and freaky monsters the size of a rhinoceros? Are there really unicorns and pegasi here? Do they talk too? Is this all some sort of weird fever induced dream?' 'Yea, that's it! This is all a dream. What really happened is I'm sitting in some hospital bed in a coma after they dug us out of the mud. I imagined Jimmy dying when he really had woken up. When people get trapped in these types of self induced nightmares, all they have to do is realize that what they are seeing isn't reality. Then they have to wake themselves up by killing their dream selves.' 'This could work. I don't have a top to spin or anything so what can I use? I skid to a halt and look around. I see a rock. That's it! What goes up must come down. I'll just throw this rock up in the air and if it doesn't land I'll know what this place is and how to beat it.' I picked up the rock and threw it up as high as I could. I watched it get smaller and smaller as it went higher. It just seemed to hang there. "Yes!" I jumped up and did a little victory dance. "Now I know what to do! Where is that gun?" Next thing I knew, My head hurt really bad. It was like getting hit by a rock... wait a minute? I look down and there was the rock that I had thrown. "What the..? What's going on here?" I picked up the rock and tossed it up about a foot in the air. When I did, I noticed that the rock had a noticeable hang time of a couple seconds then it fell. "What is this place!?" The biggest problem that concerned me was that I was stuck. I had no answers for any of my questions. The more I thought about this strange land and the circumstances of my arrival here, the more my confusion was replaced by anger. I was pissed. I picked up that accursed little rock with my hand... er paw (see i don't even know what I should call my own body parts!) and threw it as hard as I could. I sat there and brooded and I got angrier and angrier. I couldn't take it any more! I let out the biggest roar/ yell that I could, and I attacked anything that was close to me. Huge clumps of grass were uprooted. dirt was thrown everywhere. Any rocks around quickly followed their friend. I destroyed the ground around me. I was a fiend. I was a force to be reckoned with. I thought of everything as I terrorized the area. "Stupid mud slide!" There went a clump of grass. "Damn freaking monsters!" A bush was reduced to kindling. "And Damn you Jimmy for leaving me here like this!" a boulder was launched into the air. I don't remember how long I was at it. I didn't even realize that I had started running again until I felt my self fall down this hole I'm in now. The the sudden jarring from hitting the bottom was like a slap to the face. It brought me back to my senses. My body hurt. My mind hurt. My heart hurt. I was exhausted. The tears started to flow. They didn't ask me if I wanted them to come, but I didn't stop them.This time I didn't care if they were manly or not. My mind went back to the last day of Jimmy's life. I remembered how he thanked me for being there for him, for being his friend. "I'm sorry Jim that I wasn't strong enough to save you." Having said that, I sat there and cried the tears I should have finished crying at his side. I had been trying to run away from the pain while at the same time trying to remember my friend. I realized that I had been running away from the whole situation. I was running from the questions that I had no answers to.I sat there late into the night loathing myself for my cowardice about my situation. The only thing that I have done since I got here is run from my problems, but no more! I made a vow then and there that I will face them and even if I don't understand what is going on I will find the answers no matter how strange they be. After that, I felt a strange calm come over me. Nothing about my situation has changed but oddly I'm not worried about it any more. Things will work out, come what may. Well, That pretty much brings you to the point where I'm at right now. Sitting in a hole and trying to decide what I will do next. I had already promised Haiba that I would deliver a package to her daughter so that would be as good start as any right there. After that? Who knows. ___________________________________________________________________________ ]Author: Hello all my readers. I apologize for the delay. Work was a killer these past couple of weeks. I realize that this chapter may still have some issues with the grammar. I will fix them as soon as I can. I wanted to get this posted mostly just to keep the story line going. I think this chapter answered a lot of questions that were posted. I do not know when the next chapter will be completed either, so please be patient with me. Comments are always appreciated . ExplanationsHaiba was pacing in front of her hut. "You didn't find him?" "No, we found his tracks heading west but he ran off so quickly and so late in the day that we had to get back home before it got dark." Momboza answered. "Even with the Catoblepas gone, it is still dangerous to be outside the village after dark. Even as we were turning around to come back we heard a monstrous roar off in the distance followed by what sounded to be several massive animals fighting. One of the warriors was even hit on the head by a rock from that direction." Hearing this didn't help to calm her fears. In fact, it only made them worse and her pacing quickened. When Momboza saw that his wife was truly concerned about this stranger, he put his arm around her to stop her pacing and held her close. "Don't worry about him too much my dear. He's a big tiger thingy. I'm sure he can take care of himself. I mean after all, He did kill a Catoblepas." Haiba couldn't help but lean into the safety of the towering strength of her husband. After all these years, it still felt wonderful to be held by him, but she still wasn't so sure about the tiger. "You didn't see the look in his eyes as he ran off." she responded quietly "It seemed as though his whole world fell apart around him. The pain and fright seemed too much for him. He looked like a little foal who had lost his way and had no where to turn to." She was afraid about what he might do to himself while in such a state. Momboza understood his wife's caring heart. Even when she was a young filly, she had always cared for the well being of others. That has always been her strongest attribute. It has made her a better shaman and, more importantly to him, a better wife and mother for their family. If he was the Village's strength then she was its heart. He nuzzled her gently. "Lets go inside and I promise that at first light we will start looking again." She nuzzled him back and allowed him to lead her inside. _____________________________________________________________________________ (The next day) It was about mid day when I finally awoke and sat up. "uuuuuuuuuuhhhhhhhhhhhhgggggggg." 'Ya know, ever since I came to this place I have yet to wake up and not be sore or injured of some sort.' my stomach growled ' or hungry.' I thought as I arched my back and stretched out my front legs. I then stretched out my hind legs and sat down to evaluate how best to get out of this sink hole. 'It only seems to be about twelve feet deep so I should be able to jump out pretty easily,' I crouched down and jumped as hard as I could. I surprised myself as I cleared the top of the hole with two ft. to spare. Oh, and I also surprised a heard of antelope that was grazing nearby. I was kinda expecting them to bolt away. I mean come on, a big 400 pound mass of dirt, fur, teeth and claws all of a sudden pops out of a hole in the ground, and you don't run away? To their credit, they just stood there, not moving. I just sat there in shock. They did look kind of tasty but I had to test the waters so to speak. "Hi there, um... can any of you talk?" "..." "MONSTER!" They screamed. And as one unit, they hightailed it out of there. "Damn! Well I guess that answers that question." I looked around and tried to figure out which direction I came from. It was nearly impossible to tell with the sun directly over head and the trampling of the antelope scattered any of my own tracks from last night. 'hmmm... Lets see. I do remember running toward the sun in the afternoon so the village must be east...ish from here. I hope. Now which way is east?' Lets face it, with out a compass or the sun being in one direction or the other, I was lost. With out a direction to go, I decided to at least follow the antelope. They marked a pretty decent trail through the tall grass. ________________________________________________________________________________ "Come on gents! Get those covered carts secured! I don't want the cargo getting lost due to carelessness!" Ordered the burly unicorn as he supervised the mass of activity that involved the entire caravan. "We only need a few of you to come to the village, so the rest of you can guard the expensive merchandise!" "But boss, what kind of merchandise should we bring with us?" asked a young pegasus stallion. The burly unicorn just rolls his eyes "Your new at this aren't ya?" The young pegasus just nods. "You got a name?" "Fleet Wing, sir" "Well Slow Hoof, let me clue you in on something.These zebras are pretty stupid. They would pay gems for trinkets so that's what we'll give them. Some glass beads or a cheap set of pots or a bolt of cloth, a couple of dragon scales, I don't care just so long as its not too expensive." "Uhm... it's Fleet Wing sir, but what do they have that we would travel for two weeks to the middle of nowhere for?" At this, the unicorn smiled. It sent shivers up the young pegsus's spine. "Potions, zebras make the most powerful potions in all Equestria and these particular zebras have the best potion maker of all the zebra tribes. Just one potion that she makes will pay for this trip alone, and I intend to clean out her inventory." ____________________________________________________________________ "How far can this guy run?" Momboza mumbled. He and Zimba and about four other warriors had been out since first light just as he had promised his wife. They had followed his tracts to a huge clearing that looked like it was the place of the fighting animals from yesterday. There was grass and soil torn up, bushes shredded, and rocks thrown all over the place. "Great! This is going to be fun trying to find his trail in all this." Zimba moaned. "Spread out and see if you can find his trail again on the edge of this mess." Momboza ordered. "If we can find wh..." All of a sudden the ground started to tremble as a whole heard of antelope burst into the clearing. "Look out!" a warrior shouted. Momboza ran out of the way of the heard and tripped one of the antelope on the edge with his staff. before it could get back up, he got over top of it and asked, "Why are you running? What is chasing you?" "A MONSTER!" "What monster? What did it look like?" Momboza knew that antelope were skittish and easily frightened to begin with, but with the mention of a monster roaming around he had to make sure that it wasn't something like the last monster that terrorized his village. "It was horrible! It was orange and had big teeth and claws and it came straight from Tartarus from a hole in the ground!" Momboza felt an odd mixture of relief and confusion as he realized that this 'monster' was the missing tiger and not some demon from the underworld come to torment them further. But, why was he in a hole? After letting the antelope up to run after its herd, Momboza led his small band down the antelope path. They hadn't gone too far when the spied a dirty orange shape in the distance. It seemed to notice them as well because it started running faster. He skidded to a halt and exclaimed, "Chief! Zimba! Am I glad to see you guys! He looked like he was about to embrace them, but Momboza was going to have none of that. With out a moments hesitation, he grabbed his staff and smacked the tiger on the head. _______________________________________________________________________ "Ow! What was that for?" I asked as soon as I was able to see straight. "That was for worrying my wife. She's been a nervous wreck since you ran off the other day." I started feeling guilty as I rubbed the sore spot on my head. "First Zimba then you. She doesn't deserve this. As it is, you may end up sharing Zimba's punishment." Now I felt really bad. I didn't mean to upset the mare who had been so helpful to me, and I certainly didn't want to be punished by her. "I'm sorry. I didn't intend to worry her like that. I kinda got lost and couldn't find my way back to the village." He took a deep breath and let it out. "Its alright. Are you going to be ok? "Yeah, yeah I'll be fine." "Good" And in another swift movement, He brought that staff down on my head again. "GEEZ! What was that for?" I hissed in pain as I held my head. "That was for making me come out here to find you." Zimba and the warriors stared chuckling. "Yeah that, and you need to learn how to duck." Zimba piped in. Momboza then took a swing at Zimba. There was a resounding smack as it made contact with his head. Now the warriors busted up laughing. "Looks like you need some more practice your self Zimba!" one of them hollered. I couldn't help chuckle myself as both of us nursed sore heads. Momboza just smiled. "Come on, your mother will have dinner waiting" ____________________________________________________________________ It was approaching dusk when we made it back to the village. Haiba was the first one to greet us as she ran up and embraced her husband and then her son. When she looked at me, she stood up straight and gave me a scolding I'll never forget. "Where have you been? You had me worried sick! Didn't you know that its dangerous out there by yourself at night? I have half a mind to work you till you can't stand any more. Look at you're self. You're absolutely filthy! You are not allowed back in my hut until you go down to the river and bathe." She pointed to just out side the village. As soon as she took a breath, she wrapped her hooves around me in the biggest hug. "I'm sorry that you have had such a hard time here." This whole display of emotion made me a bit uneasy. I'm not very good with dealing with all of this so I just embraced her back and hoped that my awkwardness didn't show. "Now," she stepped back sniffing as she tried to wipe away some tears. She gave me a bar of lye soap. "Go and get cleaned up. Dinner will be waiting for you when your done." As I was washing in the river, I tried to understand just how come these zebras cared so much about me. The care and love of Haiba. The silent concern of Momboza. The playful banter with Zimba. It was like they adopted me with out my permission. Not that I'm complaining or anything. It has been wonderful being around a family again. It had been a few months since I last saw my own family. I didn't get to make it back home much this past semester. In order to not be overcome by this recent bout of homesickness, I put all my efforts into scrubbing myself clean. I scrubbed till my coat gleamed. The fur down my chest and stomach was actually white not brown like I had thought it was, and the rest was a nice deep orange with stripes as black as night running all over my body. I finally got a good look at my eyes now that I had the bandage off. They were a metallic green and they were slit pupils like a normal cats eye. I felt and looked like a million bucks. When I walked into the hut, all conversation stopped as everyone looked at me. "..." "What?" "So that's what you look like." Zimba answered. "Ha, Ha, I forgot how to laugh." I sat down next to him as Haiba gave me a bowl with some soup in it. "You look very nice. Much better than being caked in mud now isn't it?" "Yes ma'am, it is." "I just have to know one thing before anypony else asks you questions." "Yes ma'am, What is it?" "What is your name?" I was shocked. I had been with them for nearly three or four days and I hadn't ever properly introduced my self. "It's Tony" "..." "Well that's a stupid name" Zimba said right before his mother slaps him on his foreleg. "Be polite." "Its alright. I guess around here it does sound kind of weird" "Back home, having a name like Zimba would be kinda funny. That kid would get teased to no end." Zimba slugs me on the arm. "So where are you from?" Momboza asks as he joins in on the conversation. Now that was a loaded question. I decided to give them the briefest overview I possibly could. I explained about earth and a little about its geography. I talked about my home country and how it was divided up into states. I told them about my family and where we lived in the south. They were a bit shocked when I told them that my world had no magic. "So what was your occupation?" Momboza asked. "Well, I was just about to graduate collage with a degree in mechanical engineering." I got three blank stares for that one. "It means that I can create things that help to solve problems." "Ohhhhh" they say simultaneously. "Is that what those strange square things are for? To help you solve problems?" Zimba asked. "Square things? ... Oh, you mean my computer. Yes, they help me to design things and allows me to take notes and stuff. Not to mention, allowing me to have some fun while I work. "Can I see it!?" "Its up to your dad. He has them at the moment." "Dad can we?" "Fine, go get them" And like a black and white streak of lightning, Zimba was out the door and back again in 15 seconds flat. Needless to say, they were all pretty fascinated by my laptop. Luckily with it off, the battery still had a charge to it but only about an hours worth. When I told them it ran on bottled lightning a.k.a a battery, they where astounded. I could have sworn I heard Haiba mumble something about us not having any magic. I showed them pictures of me and my family and friends. At first they didn't believe me that that was what I looked like before I got here. I showed them how I had songs and games on it as well, and after all this Momboza started to rub his head. "Now I know how you felt when you got here." "Yea it was quite a shock" "Well I'm glad that your all right now and I just wish we could help you get back home." Zimba said. I shuffled my paws a little, not sure how to say this right. "I think you already have helped me get a home." At this, Momboza and Haiba shared a look like they were communicating silently. "Huh? What do you mean? Zimba inquired. "Well, ever since I got here you three have nursed me back to health in both body and mind and I have actually felt like you've cared for me. I appreciate you including me like you have." We all sat there for another good five minutes in silence before Haiba said that it was late and that we needed to go to bed. As I lay there on my mat, I realized that this was the happiest I've felt since I came to Equestria. I felt a low rumbling in my chest and it started to get louder. It sounded like a diesel engine idling. I laid there for a few minutes as I tried to get it under control but I couldn't stop. ' Am I purring?' ____________________________________________________________________________ Author: Hey everypony! I was writing this chapter and it seemed to just keep going on and on so I split it up into two chapters. The plot should move faster in the next chapter. Hope ya'll enjoy it. As always constructive criticism is appreciated. And yes tony the tiger is supposed to be a joke. He has no clue what an appropriate equestrian name is so he gave his human name. which just so happens to be tony, hope you like it. TradersAuthor: the green text is them speaking Equestrian. Hope you enjoy! Celestia's sun was coming up over the savanna causing a light mist to come up as it burned away the dew. Fleetwing grunted as he was awoken by a light kick to the side. "Come on, get up!" came the command from the burly unicorn. "Everypony up now! We have at least another hour of walking time before we reach the village." One by one Fleetwing and about six others, each with their own small cart of baubles and trinkets to sell, got up, ate a quick breakfast and got ready to move. Fleetwing never expected the traveling merchant life to be so rough. Especially since they couldn't fly any where. When he had signed up back in Clipton over a month ago, He had been expecting it to be a little more exotic then this. He had been hoping for adventure, and visiting royal courts and stuff. Much to his disappointment, He learned yesterday that they came all the way out to the middle of nowhere just to swindle some poor zebras. They had left the main part of the caravan the day before and he had a question that he had been wanting to ask. "Hey Boss!" The unicorn just turned around and stared at him. "Umm.... why did we leave the main caravan so far back?" The big unicorn just continued to stare at him. As he was turning around to walk the other way he said, "Because I hate nosy zebras." They hitched themselves up to their carts and started walking. Fleetwing had never seen what was in the covered carts that they had always hauled around. 'Obviously it was something very valuable or else Boss wouldn't have left nearly half of the camp back to guard them. Maybe it was Some great treasure, or maybe it was something that would spoil in the sun and so it had to stay covered or maybe...' The more he pondered on the mystery of the covered carts, the more Fleetwing could feel the tingle of adventure. He just had to know. Maybe the boss would tell him now that he had been with the caravan for a while. "Hey Boss!" "What now?" the unicorn grumbled. "I was just wondering. Now that I've been with the troop for a bit , I just wanted to know... what is in the covered carts?" The unicorn glared at the young pegasus. Fleetwing felt a shiver run up his spine. Maybe he hasn't been with the troop long enough. "The one thing I hate more than a nosy zebra is a nosy hired hand." Fleetwing gulped. 'Maybe I should have kept my mouth shut' They traveled for another hour or so before the village finally came into sight. _______________________________________________________________________________ "WAKE UP!" "GWAAAAAAHHHHHH!" Zimba yelled as he burst into the hut, nearly giving me a heart attack in the process. "Come on. Get up lazy. You missed breakfast and dad has already gone out on southern patrol." I sat there clutching my chest and trying to get my breathing under control. I felt an almost overwhelming desire to hiss at the young intruder who dared to wake me up in such a fashion. "And the reason you had to wake me up like this is because...?" "A trading caravan has come!" exclaimed the energetic young zebra. "They always have some neat stuff! I didn't want you to miss out on all the fun." I sigh "All right... I'm coming" He left as I stretched my self awake. I checked my self to see if I was presentable and clean still, and I was. Man, that is a nice feeling to be clean. I walked out of the hut and there wasn't a zebra in sight. 'hmmm... They must all be at the trader's caravan.' I heard a bunch of excited noises coming from the north side of the village so I made my way in that direction. I was just about to round the corner of a hut when I hear a loud voice Bellowing above the crowd, "Thank you all for this kind welcome." What I saw almost gave me a small panic attack. The one speaking was a big unicorn with a dark yellow coat and a light green mane and he had a tattoo on his ass. It looked like a pair of manacles with a dollar sign over them. All around him where about six or so other ponies. Each one just as colorful, and they all had different tattoos in the same place as the big guy did. 'Ha! What a rediculus thing to have. Must be some sort of initiation into the trade or something. I don't see the zebras with... hold on a second.' I looked around at the zebra crowd. I slowly started to notice that each had different designs on their rump as well. Their patterns were a lot more subtle as they tended to blend in with their stripes. The more I looked, the more it began to sink in just how obvious they were. 'How did I miss those? If they have them too, then...' Suddenly feeling a little nervous, I looked around to make sure no one was watching, and I quickly took off my shorts (or whats left of them. they were getting pretty torn up as they were the only things I had to wear.) and I checked to see If I had such a mark. I saw nothing but orange and black stripes that appeared to be in no particular pattern. I sighed in relief as I put my shorts back on. I was about to come out of the shadows when the unicorn started to talk again. "All are welcome to come and trade at the wagons of Claptrap an affiliate of the Flim Flam Bro. Trading Co. I am looking for the great chief of the tribe. Can some pony please point me to him?" Haiba and an older Zebra (I'm guessing he was one of the tribal elders) stepped forward. " The chief is away on business so we will trade in his stead." the elder announced. The unicorn seemed to be pleased with this news as he turned around to his troop and spoke in a language I didn't understand. "All right boys the chief ain't home at the moment and neither is most of the warriors. Just do what you normally do and wait for my signal." All of them but one, a certain pegasus, nodded as they started setting up their stalls. "Hey guys, what did he mean 'Wait for his signal'?" Fleetwing asked. "Just tend to your cart and take your cues from us" said a gruff looking earth pony with a punching bag cutie mark. "Look alive you have a customer." Fleetwing turned around just as a young zebra stallion not much younger than himself was walking up to him. I was once more about to come out from behind the hut when Haiba, the tribal elder, and Claptrap the unicorn walked by the hut I was hiding behind. I caught a whiff of something. It wasn't overly strong but it did make all the hairs on the back of my neck tingle. It made me rethink about stepping out into plain sight. I decided that maybe I should check it out. I crouched down and started to stalk the three as they made their way to a hut that looked like it was meant to have meetings in. I made my way around back as I followed the voices and more importantly, that smell. The more I tried the more I could distinguish Hiaba's and the tribal elder's scents. I could also smell a musty scent that must have been the unicorn's, but there was that other one. Both seemed to come from the same direction in the room. It must be coming from the unicorn as well. "So, lets get down to business, shall we?" Claptrap said. "Yes." said the tribal elder. "What is it you wish to trade for?" "Well I was wanting to trade for some potions and a few of staffs.." "Unfortunately we have had some trouble lately and our potion stock is low. What kind of potions were you wanting?" Haiba asked. "Well what do you have? In order to make this trip worth while I will need at least fifty potions and about ten staffs. I will trade you nine bolts of the finest spider silk and five sets of the best pots and pans this side of the celestial empire." Some thing about the way this guy said that made me shiver. He sounds too much like a sleazy used car salesman. Why did he need so many and that price seemed too low even if he was haggling. I mean he is talking about magic that takes some times days to make right, for pots and pans? "I'm sorry but we only have half that in potions and staffs, and we must reserve some for our selves. So, the best we can offer you is fifteen potions and two staffs for five bolts of cloth and four sets of pots and pans and ten dragon scales." the elder said "..." "Deal!" I was nodding as the tribal elder laid down a better deal but the price still seemed low. I was startled when the trader agreed to it so quickly. Something was up and that smell just got stronger. ' I think I'll go look at these pots and pans and cloth.' ________________________________________________________________________________ After Tony had left the edge of the hut with the inhabitants inside ignorant to his actions, the conversation inside took a sudden and drastic change. "So my dear mare," said claptrap in an oily voice. "I am curious, How long does it take to make such fine potions as yours?" This trader was starting to get on her nerves. In order to shut him up and get him out of her mane, she said. "A couple of days per type of potion." "Hmmm... You know, I might have a place for you in my caravan if your interested." "No thank you." He placed his hoof on hers. "A wonderful creature such as yourself could become very wealthy and respected in..." WHAM! A hoof all of a sudden came down hard on top of his. The Elder had had enough with this trader. "You will show proper respect to our Shaman and Chief's wife or the deal is off and you and your caravan must leave!" The Unicorn just glared at the elder. "I do not take orders from some wrinkly old windbag like you" With that said, a gold aura appeared around the unicorns horn. A pair of ropes appeared out of the air and hog tied and gagged the elder. He goes over and slams his hoof in to the side of the zebra's head knocking the elder unconscious. "Ha! Now you will not ord...OOF!" Was all he could say before Haiba bucked him in the stomach. "Oh no you don't!" he wheezed. He caught her near the entrance of the hut as she tried to run for help. He made more ropes appear and tied her up. "Now my dear, you will come with me. I'm sure there is somepony out there willing to pay a decent price for a strong mare such as yourself. Even if you are a bit past your prime. The market is just swamped with orders for a decent potion maker." "Hurmph muph humfand fifs ooh!" "I don't think so deary. No one will even know you are gone. For a while anyway." "I will make a a duplicate of you that will last for a few hours and by that time we will be long gone." His snake like grin was the last thing Haiba saw before her world went dark. ________________________________________________________________________ Author: Now things are starting to heat up. here is the other half of the chapter. Please comment! Criticism is always appreciated. Time To Go HuntingZimba had been shopping for a while now, moving from one cart to another. He was having trouble deciding what he wanted to buy as he had been waiting for a certain striped cat to get his furry butt over here. 'Where is he?' He continued to make his way back to the cart that was operated by a light green pegasus with a sky blue mane and he had a wing wreathed in flames for his cutie mark. None of the other carts had any thing he could afford. "See thing you like?" the green pegasus asked in semi broken Zebracan. "Yes, I want to see your necklaces again." "Oh? Young warrior have some special in mind? A mare pretty perhaps? Ahh! Here are!" Fleetwing coughed. Speaking Zebracan always made his throat tickle, and he knew he was just butchering the language. Zimba felt his cheeks flush red at what the merchant said. He wasn't about to admit this to anypony but the day after the fight with the Catoblepas he was out gathering fire wood as his punishment. When a very pretty, young zebra mare came up to him and told him she thought he was very brave to fight the monster on his own. She then gave him a quick kiss on the cheek and left. He remembered how his body felt lighter and his knees felt weak as he tried to take a step. He tripped and ended dropping all the wood. He could have sworn he heard giggling coming from behind a hut. Ever since then, when ever he saw her around the village, she would give him a small wave or even a wink sometimes. Just the thought of her was enough to make those feelings come back. He was only glancing at the merchandise, too caught up in his day dream of a pair of pretty eyes, when he felt something hard hit the back of his head. "Ow!" He was looking around as he rubbed his head. He looked down and picked up the small rock, which was the cause of his discomfort. Just at that moment, another rock skipped across the ground in front of him. "What the...?" He looked in the direction the rock came from, and he saw a furry bulk disappear behind a hut. Zimba just rolled his eyes. "What is he doing back there?" He murmured. He was just about to turn the corner when all of a sudden a big paw was clamped over his mouth as he was dragged behind the hut. "Shhhhhhhhh..., follow me." He finally pried the the paw off his mouth. "What is-!" "Shush!" "What is going on?" Zimba finally whispers. "Have you noticed anything strange about the traders?" "Aside from them speaking poor Zebracan? No. Why?" "I don't know. There is just something about them that... smells wrong." "Smells? Could it be because they haven't bathed in who knows how long?" "No. Would you just listen?" I then commenced to explain all that I had heard in the hut, and how I came to look at the merchant's stuff. "Well then, why don't you go and look at it?" "Because I don't want them to see me. I-" He was cut off by a loud voice saying, "Thank you all for your business!" It was Claptrap. He was carrying a sack on his back, and Haiba was standing next to him. "We have concluded our bartering, so please finish any business you have because we will be leaving in five minutes!" There was a mad dash for the carts as every zebra wanted to finish their purchases. After five minutes on the dot, the carts were loaded up and heading out back the way they came. Tony wanted to breath a sigh of relief but for some reason he still couldn't relax. The whole ordeal just seemed to rub him the wrong way and he couldn't shake the feeling something was wrong. 'Maybe I will go talk to Haiba about it.' _____________________________________________________________________________ As soon as they where out of hearing and sight of the village, Claptrap ordered them to pick up the pace. They pulled their carts quickly over the rough terrain for nearly another hour. Fleet wing was exhausted. "Please boss. Can we stop and rest?" He gasped. "Yeah, I'm not one to complain boss, but we can't keep going at this pace." Said the big earth pony with the punching bag cutie mark "Why are we even running?" Fleetwing asked. Claptrap ignored his question as he looked around at the other exhausted ponies as they all nodded in agreement. "Fine I'll do you one better. Take off those carts and leave them here, and YOU!" he pointed at Feetwing, " Fly ahead and tell the rest of the caravan to get ready. We're bugging out as soon as the rest of us catch up." Fleetwing was off like a shot! He pumped his wings as hard as he could to get the blood flowing through them. 'Ahhhhhh... This feels so good to fly again and give my legs a rest. I have no idea what boss is doing but I'll do anything to not have to pull that cart again' He flew for as hard as he could for about twenty minutes before the caravan came into sight. When he touched down, his legs gave out from underneath him. A young grey unicorn mare with a compass rose over a map for her cutie mark came and helped him up. He had always thought that she was kinda pretty but she never really spoke to anypony other than the boss, unless she was giving out orders. He wasn't quite sure what her position is. "Are you all right? What happened?" she asked. "Boss *pants* says to *pants* break camp." He continues after he catches his breath. "If they keep traveling at the rate we were going at, then they should be here in about two hours." "Why? Was anypony hurt?" He just shook his head. She turned around and started barking orders at the others to break down camp. Fleetwing decided to rest a little bit before he had to get back to work. ___________________________________________________________________________ "Haiba!" "Haaaiiiiiibaaaaaaa!" 'Where is that mare? She wasn't in her hut and I haven't seen her around the village.' It had been about an hour and a half since the traders had left and I still felt uneasy. I decided to check all the huts since she wasn't in her's, but I had no idea where to start. Luckily I spotted Zimba walking around, but he seemed to be in sort of a daze. "Hey Zimba! I shouted to wake him back up. "Where would your mother be if she isn't in the hut?" "ummm... I don't know. Normally, after a trade, she would be in the council hut distributing out the goods to the rest of the tribe." "But that's the thing, No one has seen her." "Well, maybe she is still there. What did you need to talk to her about?" We started walking to the same hut that I followed Haiba, the elder, and Claptrap to. "I still feel uneasy about those traders. About the way they bargained and especially the way they left so suddenly." Zimba just rolls his eyes as we approach the entrance to the hut. "You worry too much. You know-?" *Thump* We both stopped in the doorway. "Did you hear that? I asked. *Thump* "Yeah and there it is again. Its coming from over there." He points a hoof to the far back corner of the dark hut. We walked slowly into the dark council hut and made our way to the far back corner. What we saw shocked us. It was the tribe elder, gagged and tied up like a thanksgiving turkey. "geff mef owuph of fif" "Great Celestia above! What happened to you gramps?" Zimba asked as he tried to undo the knot. "Here let me help" I extend a claw and cut the gag away. "Where is Haiba?" The elder asked in a thin raspy voice. "No one has seen her. We came in here looking for her." I replied as I continued to cut his bonds. "Oh no! They took her!" he croaked. "Zimba, go get some water" Zimba looked shaken to say the least but then dashed out of the hut in record speed. I helped the Zebra stand and start walking in order to get the circulation back in his legs. "You guys reached an agreement after only a few minutes of negotiation. What happened after that?" I asked He looked at me with a puzzled face and then a sudden understanding came to him. "You where listening, weren't you?" "I uh... didn't mean to be rude or anything but I uh..." "Its alright. I'm kind of glad you did." I was about to ask him about Haiba when Zimba came racing up with a cup of water. "Here you go! Now! What did you mean by they took her?" The elder filled us in on what happened in the council hut after negotiations where ended. The more I listened, the more I angry I got. It wasn't like the enraged anger like I had my melt down. No,this anger left me cold almost. Thoughts began to fly, claws came out and started kneading the ground and plans began to form. "Zimba, Get your war staff and some supplies and meet me in your hut. We're going hunting!" I growled. Zimba was just as angry as I was and the elder started to get a little nervous. "Now hold on for just a minute. I'm not going to let you boys go off by yourselves as hotheaded as you are right know." "Oh? And your going to stop me how?" "I never said anything about stopping you. I just want to slow you down enough so we can send a runner out for Momboza and alert the other elders to our departure." I nodded my head in response until everything he said sunk in. "Uh wait... our departure?" "Of course. You didn't think I was going to let you two young colts go running around the savanna having all the fun for yourselves do you? Besides," His voice became full of malice. "They took my daughter!" I sat there slightly stunned at this new development. 'Come on! snap out of it! You can figure out the family tree later. Right know, focus on the task at hand.' "Uh... Right! We'll get our stuff and meet at Zimba's hut in half an hour." With that said we went our separate ways. I went back to the hut to gather my gear. I looked over my stuff and decided to leave all the electronics and keep the first aid kit, the blanket, the flares and the forty five with two full clips. I also packed my bed roll that I had been sleeping on for the past week. I looked down at the gun and flares and realized that they would be nearly useless in a fight. I couldn't fire the gun. It was too small to fit in my paws. The flares only gave off light and heat. I needed to do some modifications. I looked around and found some small clay jars, some string, and some wax. 'Perfect' After about thirty minutes, The elder showed up with a pair of what looked like saddle bags over his back and a war staff strapped to him. With out saying a word, he went over to the shelves where Haiba keeps her potions and ingredients grabs a couple bottles and wraps them in a cloth. "Here, place them in your pack, and don't break them." I looked at them cautiously and added them to my bag. Zimba finally showed up and handed me an extra war staff. "What took you so long?" "I had to say good bye to somepony. Here this one is for you. Try not to break it." I just rolled my eyes and asked, "Can we leave know? They have a decent two almost three hour head start." "It's time. Lets go." the elder announced. _____________________________________________________________________________ Yes I live!!!! Here is what i promised you so long ago. Read my blog. please comment. I love your comments. I desire them if I ever hope to get any better at this. The Hunt"I'm *sniff* ssso *hic* sorry." "I di... di... *sob* didn't mea..... *sniff*" the grey mare said for probably the hundredth time "Shhhhhhhhhh, its going to be alright. None of this was your fault." Haiba whispered softly as she held a very distraught grey unicorn mare. The zebra took in her surroundings for the hundredth time since she had regained consciousness. They were in a small but very well built cage on wheels with a tarp thrown over it to hide the contents from any prying eyes. When she had first woken up, she had tried to demand that they release her and no harm would befall them because of it. All she got for an answer was a hard hit on the side of the head from one of the guards. It wasn't to much longer after that that she heard raised voices and a very loud scream. Then all of a sudden, the tarp was thrown back and a guard unlocked the gate while another pointed a spear at her. It was then when the young mare was thrown into Haiba's cage all beat up and the gate was slammed shut and locked. Claptrap came up to the edge and said," You knew what I was all along and you still chose to believe that I could change." "In my defense, I did try. Your mother thought that every thing could change, and she left us when she realized that life isn't all sunshine and roses. You were abandoned by her and yet you still side with her ideals. Sometimes, I don't know who is more pathetic you or her." Even if Haiba never knew equestrian (which she did speak very well), she could never have misunderstood the situation or her role in it. Right then a young mare needed some healing both physically and emotionally and she was the right zebra for the job. Soon after Claptrap left, they had started moving and had been on the move for several hours now. It was getting dark, but how late it really was, Haiba couldn't tell with the thick tarp over the cage. All she could do was hold the young mare and try to comfort her. She didn't know how or when, but Haiba was sure that help would come. ____________________________________________________________________________ Several hours earlier Soon after Fleetwing had taken off, Claptrap released the sack he was carrying and gave it to the big stallion with the punching bag cutie mark. "Wow! she sure is heavy for a mare." "Now Jab, Is that any way to talk about a lady? Just remember if this deal goes over well, not only will it save our hides but we'll be filthy rich as well." Claptrap stated. " Now," he said turning back to the others. "We'll split off into groups of two and I want you to go different directions. I want you to twist and turn and back track so much I want you to almost get lost yourselves. Remember I said almost. I want you to make it difficult for anypony who might be tracking us. Meet back at camp as soon as you can. GO!" With that said, they divided up into groups of two and then scattered. Claptrap and Jab had paired off and were carrying the sack with Haiba in it. "So, boss *pant* why are we doing this and what does *pant* She want with a potions maker?" Jab asked as they ran through the tall grass. "Do you want to me to spell it out for you?! *pant* Look I have no idea why she wants a potions maker. All I know is that we do this last job we can retire, one way or the other.*pant* Me? Personally, I prefer the way that has lots of money and doesn't involve jail time." Jab gave a small chuckle "Me too boss. Me too!" ___________________________________________________________________________ "Ughhh...Where are they?" Compass Rose mumbled to herself. "All he was supposed to do was get some potions. How hard could that be? He better not have done anything else. Please let him not have done anything other than that. He promised." she pleaded with herself. For the last two and a half hours, ever since that new pegasus came back saying they had to pack it up, she had been hoping that Claptrap hadn't reverted to old habits. Just the thought made her get mad. So she tried to vent it on the rest of the crew. "You there! What did you say your name was?" she shouted at the pegasus who had brought the news. "Fleetwing ma'am." "Well Fleetwing, according to your estimate, they should've been back half an hour ago. Fly up and see if you can see them! Get your flank moving before I move it for you. " "Yes ma'am!" and with that the young stallion turn tail and flew off. Rose continued her pacing hoping that the sinking pit in her stomach was just because of indigestion. She continued to pace for what felt like an eternity before Fleetwing returned. "They're coming in now but I don't understand it. They are approaching from several different directions." the pegasus reported. That did nothing to reassure her doubt. Five minutes later she saw Claptrap enter the camp with Jab with a large sack on his back. "Hello, my crew! Did you all have a fine vacation with out your kind and soft hearted boss here to tell you to quit slacking off? Well vacation is over! get back to work! I wanted this caravan moving two hours ago!" "Hey," Jab nudged Claptrap. "Looks like your 'Number One' wants to talk to you and she doesn't look happy." Claptrap just sighs, " she probably wants to know if every thing is all right and I'll just have to lie to her again." Rose stomped up to Claptrap and asked him one question. "Why?" Claptrap was caught a little off guard with this question and the hurt and anger he saw in his daughter's eyes. He wasn't expecting her to ask that. Apparently his little filly wasn't as naive as he thought she was. After composing himself he asked "Jab, would you take our guest and make sure she is comfortable?" Jab picked up the sack once more and with a nervous look between his boss and the obviously irate mare, he turned and headed off towards one of the covered wagons. Claptrap turned back to his daughter and received a slap to the face that nearly knocked him over. "Why?" she nearly screamed at him. Then with a sob she spoke quieter. "We were so close. Just one more year, our contract would have been up and all this could have been behind us, and here you go foal-napping an innocent zebra from their home. How could you?" Claptrap stood up rubbing his cheek. His anger rising but he kept it in check. "Why? I'll tell you why. If we do this then we wont have to wait for next year. If we do this now then, we can retire and go someplace and actually be a family just like you always wanted." "Huh... how am I supposed to trust you? That's what you told mom too before she left!" Rose's anger started to rise again. "Your nothing but a no good..." "Easy...." " LYING..." "Whoa NOW!..." "THIEVING! " "STOP!" "EVIL...!" "I SAID 'THAT'S ENOUGH'!!!" " AHHHHHHHHHHH!!!" Rose screamed as she flew off her hoofs. Claptrap looked at his own hoof in shock. 'What did I just do?' He never got a chance to answer this as he looked around and noticed the rest of the crew staring at him. 'No I need to set an example for the crew that insubordination will not be tolerated. So with that thought, he walked over to his daughter and said. "You have questioned and assaulted me. You think your so high and mighty little miss holier than thou. If you think that life is so clear cut then I think being second in command is the wrong position for you." "Put her with our 'guest'." he sneered. Two members of the crew went and picked her up none too gently and carried her to the cage. After she had been tossed into the cage he came up to the edge and said, "You knew what I was all along and you still chose to believe that I could change." "In my defense, I did try. Your mother thought that every thing could change, and she left us when she realized that life isn't all sunshine and roses. You were abandoned by her and yet you still side with her ideals. Sometimes, I don't know who is more pathetic, you or her." And with that said, he turned around and left. Rose had never felt so alone or so lost. How could her daddy, the stallion that she always looked up to to protect her and love her, do something like this? She supposed that she deserved some sort of reprimand because of those names she called him but this was still the first time he had ever hit her out of anger like that, And why did he have to say those things about mom? What is really going on? Why Daddy why? She was a little filly again and all she wanted was her daddy to chased away the monsters again. Too confused and tired to think, she just broke down and cried. She felt a hoof rest softly on her shoulder. She looked up into the kind eyes of the zebra mare. Rose cleared her throat, wiped her eyes, sat up and tried to explain. "I'm *sniff* ssso *hic* sorry." "I di... di... *sob* didn't mea....." That's about as far as she got before she dissolved into tears again. The kind zebra just held Rose in her hooves as the young mare sobbed for the both of them. For both had lost their family that day. ___________________________________________________________________________ "Huh oh... now what do we do?" Zimba asked. We had just come across a very troubling site. The wagons that the traders were pulling had all been dumped and there wasn't a clear cut path anymore. It almost looked like there were at least three different paths leading in three different directions. ""Hmmm... very clever." the zebra elder said "Our opponents have played this game before and are quite good at it." "What?!" Zimba and I ask at the same time. "They have lightened their load and are now able to travel faster. So they take that time to create false trails to confuse us. One of these trails will take us pretty much straight to their camp while the other two will twist and turn and get us lost." "Well that's just great! How are we supposed to track 'em now?" I asked "Well, how about your sense of smell? Your always going on about how they smelled bad to you." Zimba asked, a bit panicked about the thought of losing the trail. "Do I look like a blood hound? I have been trying to smell something the entire way here but all I smell now is you, gramps and dirt. That's it." "Look, will you two stop flapping your gums and get over here? They went that way." He said pointing down one of the paths. "How can you tell?" Zimba asked. "Easy!" he said, "Catch!" And with that, he jumped up and landed on Zimba. "OOF!" "What the...? Grampa, I thought mom told you to cut out the honey soaked mushrooms!?" Zimba groaned as his grandfather sat on his back. " Yes, well, I love them so and what your mother doesn't know wont hurt her. Don't deny and old stallion his pleasures, now walk." After a few steps, the elder said "See? The hoof prints are deeper than a normal ponies meaning that the pony was carrying something heavy. Or else it was a big, fat pony with little hoofs for its size, but since I don't remember seeing one at the village then that means that those..." he pointed at a set of prints "are the ones we must follow." "That's great! You can get off me now!" Zimba yelled. "All right then, lets go!" I said. ____________________________________________________________________________ Zimba led the way down the path. We had been running at a good clip for about an hour and a half before we stopped at the wagons and it had almost been two hours since then and we were still keeping up a nearly breakneck pace. I was beginning to wonder if he had some sort of potion he was drinking just to keep up his energy or was there something else going on. I could tell by the tired glances that the elder kept glancing at him that he was wondering the same thing. "Hey Zimba would you slow down a bit!?... Your grampa is getting tired!" I yelled up at him. The elder looked at me with a raised eyebrow and said "Don't use me as an excuse *pant* just because your getting tired *pant*." "Maybe you wouldn't be so tired if you ran on all fours!" Zimba yelled back at me. I had been running like a human the entire time. Habit. "Hey, are you deaf!? I said that your grampa is getting tired! What about him?" I answered. "If he can't keep up then he shouldn't have come!" I looked at the elder and he nodded in the direction of the young zebra. In slow understanding, I nodded in return. Lowering my self on all fours, I sprinted after Zimba until I was able to catch him in a flying tackle. "OOF!" After I had him pinned down, he started yelling at me. " What the hay are you doing!? We can't lose the trail! we're so close! Why are you doing this? Your with them aren't you! This was all a trick to get us to trust you! You Stole MY MOTHER!" He was working 'mself into a major frenzy. So, I did the only thing I could think to do. I took a deep breath, got right up in his face and roared as as loud as I could. "ALL RIGHT NOW THAT'S ENOUGH!" There was a look of shock and fright on his face.'Uh oh, I might have taken that a little too far.' I got up off him and the elder dashed in and helped Zimba to his hoofs. "Are you alright?" "Yea grampa, I'm fine just a little shook up." I had started to unpack a little bit of food from the backpack. I handed some to them as well as some water. "Here you go. You need to rest a little bit before we start after them again." I told Zimba "um... Thanks." he said a little nervously as he took the food. The elder was also eying me with a nervous but steely gaze. I figured I had better apologize before anything else happened. "Sorry I had to get after ya like that. You weren't going to listen to me and If I didn't do something to distract you, you would have gotten hurt or worse killed." "And scaring him and me accomplished that how?" the elder asked. "hmm... He wasn't thinking clearly, so the way I figured it, if the sound didn't wake him up then the smell sure would've. I haven't been able to brush my teeth really since I got here and that's just gross." I looked at both of them and smiled. Zimba was the first to break into a nervous grin and then started chuckling. Gramps soon followed when he realized that no harm was intended. I joined in on the laughter and after that things when back to the way they were. Minus of course one hysterical zebra. As it turned out where we had stopped to eat had been where the main camp had been parked. "They will be traveling a lot slower now they have the full caravan. If the blessings of the sun goddess favor us, we will catch up to them by night fall." The Zebra elder said as he set a slower but steadier pace. __________________________________________________________________________ Fleet wing has never been more troubled or confused in his entire life then he was right then. After the big reveal of the captured zebra, the sudden anger and aggression the Boss showed to a mare (his own daughter no less), he had been too stunned to say anything about it. As he looked back now he realized just how dumb he had been, ' How could I have been so stupid? It was bad enough trying to cheat the zebras but now foalnaping them? This is getting way out of hoof. I need to cut ties with them as soon as I can.' He thought back to the two prisoners 'but I can't just leave them caged like that. That would make me as guilty as Claptrap. I'll try to get them out tonight when its my turn on guard. With that last thought, he prepared himself for what he had to do. __________________________________________________________________________ "Look there it is!" Zimba exclaimed. "Shhhh!" "Shhhh!" "Sorry" he whispered back. "so, how are we going to do this?" " First, we are going to scout out where they are keeping her. Then, we are going to wait until most of them are asleep. Then, we will create a large enough diversion to daze and confuse them while I sneak in and free them" The Elder said. "Ummm..." I raised my paw. "How big of a diversion are we talking here? I only have a couple of things I made up and I can't guarantee just how big or loud they'll be." "You still have those potions I gave you right?" "Yea.. so...?" "So... those potions have been on a shelf for years. I can't remember what was in them exactly, but they are almost ridiculously unstable. That I do remember. They'll make a big boom when placed in a fire." "WHAT!" "SHHHHHHH!" "You mean ta tell me that ah've been caryin 'round, on my back, a failed science 'xpearament that could ah've gone off if it had've got'en too hot in the sun!?" I whispered back. "Yes, and you did a fantastic job of it too!" "Um.. why are you taking like that? You sound like something just snapped a string that had been pulled tight." Zimba asked "ay uh...mmmm *cough* *Clears throat* I uh... get like that when I'm scared or really angry. Its how I grew up speaking and I sometimes revert back to it." I squeaked out. "Cute, but we have a task at hoof here that needs to be accomplished. We'll talk about home when we are done. Now here is how this will go down." and the elder gave out assignments. ______________________________________________________________________________ A/N sorry it took so long. my life has been in a major flux. school and work have to take priority over this. I did a lot of experimenting with some of the character development as well as the writing style. I am by no means done with the editing out of the grammar mistakes so please be patient with me. let me know if the story is progressing too fast or too slow or anything else that I may need to improve upon. sorry if this chapter seems to have a lot of filler in it. Read me first!Hey every one! this is to let you all know that I am sorry from the bottom of my heart for the delay in chapters. I have been in a major funk as far as my writing goes. Everything else in life is great, so I procrastinated writing, and every time I did try to write I got stuck. So I decided to reread my story. And the first four chapters appalled me! I realized they were jumpy, sketchy on the details, and gave poor character development. So I have been (and still am) in the process of re writing them in hopes that I will kick start my ideas for the rest of the stories. I would love to hear any and all feedback to help make this story better. I understand if you have lost patience with it and once more I apologize. I am not a mighty writer and this story was kinda started on a whim. If you are patient with me then I will do my best to reward your kindness with more and hopefully better chapters. So with out further ado, Here is the first chapter revised.
Best Day Ever (Revised)“HOLY CRAP!!!! I’m late!” I had 35 minutes to make it to campus to set up for my presentation and I had just woken up. I set another geniuses book of world records (breaking my previous one of 2.3 seconds) for getting dressed and brushing my teeth (a shower will have to wait). Then after applying generous amounts of deodorant, I mentally reviewed my check list. 'Computer, projector, wallet, keys, iphone, pocket knife and power cords for all of this. Let’s see, check, check and check.' I sprinted through the rain to the bus stop and made it just as the bus pulled up. Good, now I have a 30 minute bus ride to fully wake up and review just what my presentation is on. Before I continue with this story let me tell you about myself a bit. I am a Mechanical engineering student at Clemson University (GO TIGERS!!!). I have a presentation to give in a little over three hours on robotics, a topic I absolutely love by the way, and my professor really set the bar high on this one. We were split into groups and each group had 3 members and we had to design, build, and program a robot that mimicked human motion. Bob, Jimmy and I (my partners in crime and my best friends) chose the hands and forearms. We had them working with wireless sensors attached to these gloves that went half way up your arm. When you moved, they mimicked your motion, so we had this smart idea to give the presentation and then demonstrate them playing a key board. I drew the short straw so I had to actually give the power point that we had prepared, hence the projector. The other two get to set up and play with uh… I mean, give the demonstration. 'Oh great I finally made it.' I sighed as I stepped off the bus in front of the campus. There was one of my partners waiting for me already. “Oh boy… ya'll look like ya got run'nd ov'r by a truck.” ______________________________________________________________________ This is Jimmy. By far the most redneck of the group. He loves to hunt, fish and has a different gun for every day of the week, and his momma fries some of the best chicken I've ever had. But don't let his down home southern drawl and mannerisms fool ya, He is a genius, especially when it comes to electrical circuits (both analog and digital). He is the only reason I passed my electrical classes and then some. ______________________________________________________________________ “Well hello to you too, now help me get this to class and out of the rain and then we'll go unload your truck" As we walked, we talked a bit more about how we wanted the presentation to go. Its a good thing we got there 3 hours before the presentation was due. Because when ever anything this important happens, Murphey steps in. "Hey, You seen Bobby yet?” I asked “Nah, he ain't shown up yet and he hasn’t called so I gue…” at that exact moment both our phones go off with a new text message. Sorry guies. Cat mak it. In hospital now. @ppindex burst last knight. Key bord and mountin stand in my apt. roomate is hom. Tell Dr. Hartwell sory. God luk! Jimmy and I look back at each other with a worried glance. Normally Bobby's texts are all neat and typed with the utmost care. The fact that it was this garbled mess gave some credit to his message as well as stating that he is doped up on something pretty strong. _______________________________________________________________ Bobby was more or less the geek of the group. He isn't the socially awkward, can't get a date, sits in front of a computer all day, type of geek. He... well scratch that last one. He does like to sit in front of a computer all day. Jimmy and I have had to hide his from him a couple of times... It was not a pretty site. He is always up on the latest software and gadgets and has some incredible contacts in that field, and he can write code and program like nobody's business. He wrote the software for our robot and then trained Jimmy and me in how to use it as well as giving us copies of the program and software for it. The man could be the next Bill Gates! The only reason he is even taking Mechanical Eng. as his major is because he, and I quote "needed a challenge". He also likes hooking us up with some of the most cutting edge tech for cheap, which I'll never complain about. He is the one who made it so Jimmy and I could pass the programing portion of our classes. (yea... you take a lot of random classes as an engineer) All three of us had been friends since sophomore year. We kept getting in the same classes together and had done a lot of projects together over the years. We were the three amigos. _________________________________________________________ “Soooooooo....Whada we do now?!” “Hmmmm.....Ok Jimmy, you’re the one with a car so go to his apartment and get the stuff. I’ll stay here and continue setting up and beg Dr. Hartwell to give us more time.” “Right, I’ll be back in fifteen.” After explaining the situation to him and showing the text from Bobby, Dr. Hartwell moved our group to last, and agreed to give all of us full credit for what we earned as it was no one’s fault for Bobby’s condition. I sprinted back to our stuff and immediately began hooking up the remote and receiver for the arms. I was almost finished when Jimmy made it back. “Well, his roommate confirm'd that he took Bobby tuh the hospital at four this mornin. So hows it commin?” “Great, we just need to hook up one of our computers and start up the program and do a calibration test and we're all set.” “Awesome, let’s do this.” We worked like mad men. While getting the interface set up for the arms and testing them one more time, we noticed that we had a minor flaw. Neither of us knew how to play a key board. That was Bobby’s part. “Great, now whada we do?” Jimmy asked. “Weeeee’ll…. we’ll improvise, ya know, ask for a volunteer or something.” It wasn't long before it was our turn. _________________________________________________________________ (20 minutes after the presentations were over) “Yeah!!!!! That was unbelievable! Did you see their faces?” We congratulated ourselves as we packed up our stuff. “Ah know! Carter’s group looked like they just ate a mouthful of shi…” “Boys!” Dr. Hartwell called after us. “Yes sir?” “Yes sir?” “May I speak with you in my office before you leave please?” You know those times after a test that you feel you aced it and you go out and start celebrating and drinking it up with your buddies? Only to find out that you actually failed it miserably, and your stomach feels like its going to fall through the floor? Yeah, I was getting that feeling right about now. As we walked behind Dr. Hartwell, I looked over at Jim and saw he was feeling the same as me. Sometimes this professor can be a real hard ass. When we entered his office, we saw that there were two other people in the room. All three of them (including professor Hartwell) had on that same stern face that gave away nothing. 'Man, do these people all play poker together or do they practice that look in the mirror every morning?' “Boys. I would like to introduce you to a couple of friends of mine. This is Dr. Kimball MD.” He pointed to a middle aged man about six feet tall with hair graying at the temples. “And this is Mr. Konishi vice president of Samurai Pharmaceuticals.” He then indicated a slightly younger Japanese man about five foot eight with very dark hair. After shaking their hands we began to realize that this was no ordinary ‘you failed’ kinda talk “They were in the class room when you gave your presentation.” “Yes, we were very impressed with your presentation” Dr. Kimball stated still with that same stupid poker face. “Tell me, what will you gentlemen be doing after you graduate in two weeks?” Mr. Konishi asked. “I have a couple of job interviews out west, but no solid plans sir.” I said. “No set plans for me either.” Jimmy replied “We can’t speak for Bobby.” At this, all three men smiled. That completely threw me for a loop. “The reason I ask is this, I would like to hire you." Mr Konishi said, "All three of you. You would start out at 75k with full benefits.” “That’s extremely generous of you sir but may I ask, doing what, sir?” I said. “You three would be working with me and a hand full of other doctors and engineers to create the first robotic prosthetic limbs.” Said Dr. Kimball. “We were looking for a few good ‘young’ engineers for fresh ideas. That was one of the reasons we asked our friend Dr. Hartwell to form a semester project like this. You three are the best we’ve seen.” 'Man I love my life right now!' _________________________________________________________________ (An hour or so later at the hospital) “…. so, that’s what happened.” I said. “Sweet! We passed our class and got jobs and I...... have a gorgeous nurse. Well Hellllooooo Nurse!” Bobby belted out while slurring his words. He was still a little loopy from the meds. “ Yea yea, rub it in. Oh, an they wanted ya to call'em as soon as ya get out ah here for a phone interview. Ya promise to do that?” Jimmy asked as he handed him the business card. “Cross my hart, hope to fly, stick a cupcake in my eye!” Bobby exclaimed. Jimmy and I gave each other a confused look as we were wondering if our friend was doped up on something other than what the hospital gave him. “What was that look for guys?” “Are you really a three year old and you didn't tell us man? That sounds like something my little niece would say and she’s five.” I stated. “No, that’s something Pinkie Pie would say” Now we were really confused. “Whooo..die pie?” “Pinkie pie. My favorite of the mane six.” “Ok now I’m scared to ask but what is the main six and are you sure they don’t have your morphine drip on too high?” “It’s a cartoon show. My little Ponies.” “…” “…” “You serious?” “Yea” Hahahahahahahahahaahahahahaha! "Come on guys! Its a great show?" “Do you..ha.. have your..ha.. wallet around?” I asked. “Yea its sitting over there. Why?” “cause I’m going to have to take your man card” I replied as I was looking through his wallet. Jimmy and I continued laughing at him. “Hey! Its not that bad of a show. In fact most of the fans aren’t little or girls.” He explains about this fairy tale land of ponies where these six friends are the elements of harmony that defeat the evil in the land though the process of learning about the power of friendship. He talked about all the creatures. How pegasi, unicorns, earth ponies, diamond dogs, griffins, and dragons are the main species in the land, and something called a manticore that resembles a lion scorpion thing with wings or something. By this time Jimmy and I could barely even breathe much less talk as we were rolling on the floor laughing. A nurse came by and told us to keep it down. Anyway, despite his choice of cartoon shows, we just love to tease Bobby cause it’s so much fun and he takes it so well as well as making it to easy. “Oh well, we better get goin. Looks like the weather’s getting bad” I gasp as I try to catch my breath. “Yea, I have to go to Stumphouse mountain to meet some buddies of mine. Wanna come?” Jimmy asks. “Sure, better get there and back before that storm really hits.” “Lets go then, see ya Bobby” “See ya Bobby” Bobby just waved at us as the ‘gorgeous’ nurse came in and gave him his meds. As we headed deeper in to the mountains, the rain started coming down in sheets. “So who are we meeting?” I ask. “An ol' high school buddy of mine. He was in the area so we wanted to meet up one more time before I graduate. We had planed on hikin but it looks like that’s out'ah the equation.” As we continued up the mountain the rain came even harder. Jim’s old Toyota 4runner was having a hard time keeping traction as we crawled up the road. 'Man when was the last time he changed his tires?' We saw people pulled over on the side of the road with their flashers on to wait it out. The biggest problem with the rain is we have had so much of it lately. The ground couldn’t absorb much more. Dark rivulets of mud started to mix in with the rivers of water on the road. Luckily we made to Stumphouse tunnel without being washed away. Jimmy’s buddy was actually still there waiting for us. “He said he tried tuh call us but the storm messed up his signal” Jimmy explained when he made it back to the car. “He said that he’s in the area for a few more days so we can catch him later.” “Nice,” I said “lets see if this old beater of yours can get us down without killing us.” “You got it.” The road was even worse going down the mountain than it was coming up, and the old car was having a dickens of a time staying on the slick mud covered road. 'Wait! Mud covered?' Just as I saw the signs, I yelled “Jimmy look out!” Right then a wave of mud and water hit us from the driver's side. I felt the bottom give out from underneath us and the whole world turned upside down and then … nothing.
Best Day Ever“HOLY CRAP!!!! I’m late!” I had 30 minutes to make it to campus to set up for my presentation and I just woke up. I set another geniuses book of world records (breaking my previous one of 2.3 seconds) for getting dressed and brushing my teeth (a shower will have to wait). Then applying generous amounts of deodorant, I mentally review my check list. Computer, projector, wallet, keys, iphone, pocket knife and power cords for all of this. Let’s see, check, check and check. I sprinted through the rain to the bus stop and made it just as the bus pulls up. Good, now I have a 30 minute bus ride to fully wake up and review just what my presentation is on. I am a Mechanical engineering student at Clemson University (GO TIGERS!!!). I have a presentation to give in two hours on robotics, a topic I absolutely love by the way, and my professor really set the bar high on this one. Each group had 3 members and we had to design, build, and program a robot that mimicked human motion. Bob, Jimmy and I chose the hands and forearms. We had them working with wireless sensors attached to these gloves that went half way up your arm. When you moved, they mimicked your motion, so we had this smart idea to give the presentation and then demonstrate them playing a key board. I drew the short straw so I have to actually give the power point we have prepared hence the projector. The other two get to set up and play with uh… I mean give the demonstration. Oh great I finally made it. “Hey man! Oh… you look like you got run over by a truck.” “Morning Jimmy and thanks for the complement.” I added sarcastically. “You seen Bobby yet?” “No, he hasn’t shown up yet and he hasn’t called so I gue…” at that exact moment both our phones go off with a new text message. Sorry boys. Can’t make it. In the hospital now. My appendix burst last night. Key board and mounting stand in my apt. roommate is home. Tell Dr. Hartwell sorry. Good luck! Jimmy and I look back at each other and start freaking out. All three of us had been friends since sophomore year. We kept getting in the same classes together and had done a lot of projects together over the years. We were the three amigos. “What do we do now?!” “Ok Jimmy, you’re the one with a car so go to his apartment and get the stuff. I’ll stay here and continue setting up and beg Dr. Hartwell to give us more time.” “Right, I’ll be back in fifteen.” After explaining the situation to him and showing the text from Bobby, Dr. Hartwell moved our group to last, and agreed to give all of us full credit for what we earned as it was no one’s fault for Bobby’s condition. I sprinted back to our stuff and immediately began hooking up the remote and receiver for the arms. About that time, Jimmy made it back. “Well, his roommate confirmed that Bobby went to the hospital at 4 this morning. Oh, and here’s the mount and key board.” “Great! Dr. Hartwell moved us to last.” “Awesome, let’s do this.” We worked like mad men. While getting the interface set up for the arms and testing them one more time, we noticed that we had a minor flaw. Neither of us knew how to play a key board. That was Bobby’s part. “Great, now what do we do?” Jimmy asked. “Weeeee’ll…. we’ll improvise, ya know, ask for a volunteer or something.” Before we knew it, it was our turn. _________________________________________________________________________________________________ (20 minutes later) “Yeah!!!!! That was unbelievable! Did you see their faces?” “I know! Carter’s group looked like they just ate a mouthful of shi…” “Boys!” Dr. Hartwell called after us. “Yes sir?” “Yes sir?” “May I speak with you in my office please?” You know those times after a test that you feel you aced it and you go out and start celebrating and drinking it up with your buddies? Only to find out that you actually failed it miserably, and your stomach feels like it falls through the floor? Yeah, I was getting that feeling right about now. As we walked behind Dr. Hartwell, I looked over at Jim and saw he was feeling the same as me. Sometimes this professor can be a real hard ass. When we entered his office, we saw that there were two other people in the room. All three of them(including professor Hartwell) had on that same stern face that gave away nothing. Man, do these people all play poker together or do they practice that look in the mirror every morning? “Boys. I would like to introduce you to a couple of friends of mine. This is Dr. Kimball MD.” He pointed to a middle aged man about six feet tall with hair graying at the temples. “And this is Mr. Konishi vice president of Samurai Pharmaceuticals.” He then indicated a slightly younger Japanese man about five foot eight with very dark hair. After shaking their hands we began to realize that this was no ordinary ‘your failed’ kinda talk “They were in the class room when you gave your presentation.” “Yes, we were very impressed with your presentation” dr. Kimball stated still with that same stupid poker face. “Tell me, what will you gentlemen be doing after you graduate in two weeks?” Mr. Konishi asked. “I have a couple of job interviews out west, but no solid plans sir.” I said. “No set plans for me either.” Jimmy replied “We can’t speak for Bobby.” At this all three men smiled. That completely threw me for a loop. “The reason I ask is this, I would like to hire you. All three of you. You would start out at 75k with full benefits.” “That’s extremely generous of you sir but may I ask, doing what, sir?” I said. “You three would be working with me and a hand full of other doctors and engineers to create the first robotic prosthetic limbs.” Said Dr. Kimball. “We were looking for a few good ‘young’ engineers for fresh ideas. That was one of the reasons we asked our friend Dr. Hartwell to form a semester project like this. You three are the best we’ve seen.” Man I love my life right now. _________________________________________________________________________________________________ (an hour or so later at the hospital) “…. so, that’s what happened.” I said. “Sweet! We passed our class and got jobs and I have a gorgeous nurse” Bobby said. “ yea yea, rub it in. Oh, they want you to call them as soon as you get out of here for a phone interview. You promise to do that?” Jimmy asked as he handed him the business card. “Cross my hart, hope to fly, stick a cupcake in my eye!” Bobby exclaimed. Jimmy and I gave each other a confused look as we were wondering if our friend was still doped up on some medication. “What was that look for guys?” “Are we three, man? That sounds like something my little niece would say and she’s five.” “No, that’s something pinkie pie would say” Now we were really confused. “whooo..die pie?” “Pinkie pie. My favorite of the mane six.” “Ok now I’m scared to ask but what is the main six and are you sure they don’t have your morphine drip on too high?” “It’s a cartoon show. My little Ponies.” “…” “…” “You serious?” “Yea” “Do you have your wallet around?” I asked. “Yea its sitting over there. Why?” “cause I’m going to have to take your man card” I replied as I was lookin through his wallet. Jimmy and I start laughing at him. “Hey! Its not that bad of a show. In fact most of the fans aren’t little or girls.” He explains about this fairy tale land of ponies where these six friends are the elements of harmony that defeat the evil in the land though the process of learning about the power of friendship. He talked about all the creatures. How pegasi, unicorns, earth ponies, diamond dogs, griffins, and dragons are the main species in the land, and something called a manticore that resembles a lion scorpion thing with wings or something. By this time Jimmy and I could barely even breathe much less talk as we were rolling on the floor laughing. A nurse came by and told us to keep it down. Anyway, despite his choice of cartoon shows, we just love to tease bobby cause it’s so much fun and he takes it so well. “Oh well, we better get goin. Looks like the weather’s getting bad” I gasp as I try to catch my breath. “yea, I have to go to stumphouse mountain to meet some buddies of mine. Wanna come?” Jimmy asks. “Sure, better get there and back before that storm hits.” “Lets go then, see ya Bobby” “See ya bobby” Bobby just waved at us as the ‘gorgeous’ nurse came in and gave him his meds. As we headed deeper in to the mountains, the rain started coming down in sheets. “So who are we meeting?” I ask. “An old high school buddy of mine. He was in the area so we wanted to meet up one more time before I graduate. We had planed on hiking but it looks like that’s out of the equation.” As we continued up the mountain the rain came even harder. Jim’s old Toyota 4runner was having a hard time keeping traction. “Man when was the last time he changed his tires?” We saw people pulled over on the side of the road with their flashers on to wait it out. The biggest problem with the rain is we have had so much of it lately. The ground couldn’t absorb much more. Dark rivulets of mud started to mix in with the rivers of water on the road. Luckily we made to stumphouse tunnel without being washed away. Jimmy’s buddy was actualy still there waiting for us. “He said he tried to call us but the storm messed up his signal” jimmy explained when he made it back to the car. “he said that he’s in the area for a few more days so we can catch him later.” “Nice,” I said “lets see if this old beater of yours can get us down without killing us.” “You got it.” The road was even worse going down the mountain and the old car was having a dickens of a time staying on the slick mud covered road. Wait! Mud covered? Just as I saw the signs, I yelled “Jimmy look out!” Right then a wave of mud and water hit us from the passenger side. I felt the bottom give out from underneath us and the whole world turned upside down and then … nothing.
Worst Day EverPain! Why!? Why do I hurt so much? Why are my limbs so heavy? I slowly opened my eyes. All I saw was mud and lots of it about 4 inches from my face. “Wow, that was close.” I tried to raise my arms but then realized they were already above my head. Uh, so this is how Luke Skywalker felt when he woke up upside down after getting mauled in the face by a big snow monster. My face was killing me probably from the mud punching holes in Jimmy’s windshield and the glass cut me. I wouldn’t know for sure until I could look at myself in a mirror. “Hey Jimmy! You all right, man?” I look over and receive two of the biggest shocks of my life. The first one was a big furry mass of orange right next to my face and reflexively tried to move it out of my way when it moved and ended up smashing in to my eye. When it kept moving and I kept trying to swat at it, that’s when I realized that it was attached to me. Is that my arm!? As soon as I calmed down and managed to stop hitting myself in the face. I found out that it was my arm. “What the…?” As soon as I was able to look past this strange new member of my body, I saw the second biggest shock of my life. In the driver’s seat, where Jimmy used to be, hanging upside down was a mass of orange, black, brown and green. I couldn’t figure out what it was until it shifted slightly and moaned. WHAT THE… THAT IS JIMMY!! And he looks hurt pretty bad. Without thinking about it I reached up and unbuckled my seat belt. Bad idea! I forgot the car was still upside down. I had to half dig half fight my way right side up as best I could while sporting a headache to rival all migraines. Once I was right side up, I got a better look at our situation. The whole driver’s side of the vehicle was caved in pretty bad with the windows smashed and filled that half of the car with mud. First priority, get Jimmy down and see how he is. That’s when I got a better look at him. He has orange fur with black stripes coated in mud and this green fluid that seems to be leaking from multiple cuts on his body. It took me a second to realize that that was his blood. HOLY FREAKING COW! That’s a lot of blood! I reach for him and try to get him down but his buckle is jammed. I keep tugging as panic starts to really set in as I see just how hurt he is. I keep pulling and yanking, trying to break it! Nothing is working! Getting panicky and frustrated, I pull my arm back and hit the damn thing! I barely had time to catch him when the seat belt gave way. I gingerly set him down on as level of a surface as I could, considering the floor used to be the roof of the car and it was full of mud and school supplies. I grabbed his backpack and used it as a back rest for him. We were quickly getting very cramped for space and, what I felt like, breathable air. That’s when I noticed that he had a massive head wound on his left side and that’s where most of the blood came from. I tore up the tattered remains of my shirt and tied it to his head trying to stop the flow of blood. I had no idea how much blood he lost, and had no idea how long we had been in there but we had to get out, and fast. The best place to start, I felt, was the back window of the little 4 runner. “This is gunna be awkward buddy, sorry.” I said as I pushed all our gear up around him so I could have a good solid kick at the glass. I had to kick it three times before I got cracks in it. I had to kick another four times before I could reach over and start pulling the glass back. Once I got the glass moved out of the way, I had to try and dig us out. The best way was up and out. Unfortunately I had no place to stick the dirt except in the car with us. O well, can’t be helped. Luckily the soil was still pretty loose. I dug at a furious pace for about ten minutes when the dirt all of a sudden gave way. I saw light and the air smelled sooo… great! I was beside myself with glee! “Huzzah! Jimmy we’re gunna make!” I shouted as I renewed my efforts to widen the tunnel. I was finally able to squeeze myself out and I soon had the rest of the back hole uncovered. I had to remove quite a bit of mud from the inside of the car as well as most of our gear before I had enough room to get Jimmy out. I noticed that the impromptu bandage I made was completely stained green and now was covered in mud as was everything else. This isn’t good we need to find some shelter. I looked around and tried to find the best way to go to look for shelter. We were in a ravine stuck between two very steep slopes and the only way out was up the very slippery looking sides. Well, up and out! I sling Jimmy across my shoulders and start climbing just as it began to rain again. It took me over an hour of precious time, time that we didn’t have, to find a small cave that was out of the weather. Once I set jimmy down I rechecked his bandage and the bleeding still hadn’t stopped. I started to rip up his shirt for more bandages until I could find something better. He was starting to het cold. Fire, I need a fire! I ran back to the car and dug through everything. Thankfully I came across a road side emergency kit that had been buried in the mud but the contents were still clean. There was a small first aid kit, some water bottles, granola bars, a blanket and some roadside flares. I rushed back with my precious cargo trying to look for some dry wood somewhere to build a fire with. I found some and with my haul I made it back to the cave. I needed light so I lit the fire first by setting the wood in a pile and popping a flare. Now I was able to see. After putting the blanket on him I removed the filthy wraps and began to clean. The more I cleaned the better I saw that he had dark orange fur with black stripes that started near the center of his face and streaked back and around his head, and all over his body. His face had elongated and the top of his head became lower with his ears sitting on top. His mouth now hat long sharp teeth and he had whiskers out the sides of his face. His hands and feet were paws but with longer fingers than a cat and a thumb. He was a freakin tiger! Needless to say this was wiredin me out because I too had the fur and claws. I had no Idea what my face looked like but as I was moving around I stepped backwards and hissed in pain. Man that hurt! I looked back and saw what I had stepped on. Poking out the bottom of my shorts was a freakin tail! “Stop getting distracted!” I tell myself. As I was cleaning the cut I noticed that his head actually had an indent in the side where he had been struck. I felt completely helpless at this point. All I could do was finish cleaning it and hope that he woke up without much brain damage. Once Jimmy was cleaned (mostly) and bandaged, I finally could take care of my wounds. From what I could tell, I had a nasty gash that went from the top of my left eyebrow down across the eye over my muzzle and ended near my lower jaw. The rest was all smaller cuts and bruising. I cleaned myself up as best I could and bandaged my eye like a pirate (I looked like a freakin bad ass). I noticed that I now had retractable claws that were as sharp as any knife I’ve ever owned. They came in useful when I was trying to cut strips for bandages. So I used them to cut a hole in the back of my shorts so I would’nt be sitting on my tail the whole time. The colors everywhere also seemed more vibrant even in the dim fire light. I swear everything seemed to have a faint outline to it including me and Jimmy. The who, what, when, where, how and why questions flew around in my skull. I knew we weren’t in South Carolina anymore. But as to how we got turned into tigers, I had no idea. Wait, he..he he – Clemson .. tigers. The irony of the situation became apparent. If my mood wasn’t so sour I would have laughed my head off. I threw more wood in the fire. I realized just how exhausted I really was. My mind was numb from sensory overload and my eyes were starting to get heavy. I shook myself awake. "No! I have to be awake to take care of Jimmy. Snap out of it!” Jimmy hadn’t moved this whole time, but I could still see him breathing. I was scared to death. What if he woke up and needed something and I wasn’t awake to get it for him. This and a hundred other thoughts fought in my brain for dominance as I closed my eyes and fell asleep. “Wo, I did not just do that!” I jerked awake from my mind yelling at me. It was just beginning to be dawn as the world outside the cave grew lighter. I threw some more logs on the few coals and soon had the fire built back up. I looked over at Jimmy and noticed that his eyes where open. I sighed with relive until I noticed that they had a glassy look to them like he had a high fever and he was fidgeting like he couldn’t get comfortable. He looked and me and said one word. “Water” I jumped to his side and put one of the last water bottles to his lips as he drank like it was his last. I had to take it away and force him to slow down before I would let him continue to drink. As he was drinking I could feel the heat coming off of him. When he was done, he fell back asleep. I needed to find some more water and preferably some help. Seeing that he was alright for the moment I got up and went outside. The sun was just over the horizon and what I saw truly took my breath way. The range of mountains we were in was truly majestic. The air almost seemed tropical. The landscape was completely covered in lush greenery with a mist hanging in the tree tops. The birds and insects were making a symphony of perfect ambiance. I stood there admiring the view and at the same time noticing the humidity and temperature start to rise. This is going to get miserable. I shook myself out of my stupor and set off in search of water. As I trudged along (and trudging it was), I realized that my shoes (or what’s left of them) didn’t feel right and slowed me down. I took them off and noticed that my feet or paws I guess I should say, felt so much better without them. Hmm… it feels so right even though back home I couldn’t stand being in the forest without shoes. O well, I need water and get back quick. I soon came across the most majestic waterfall I had ever seen. It started at a single point and then fanned out in to a gentle cascading wall as it then fell 25 ft. down into a pool of the clearest water I had ever seen. “Perfect!” I reached down and filled up the water bottles and taking a drink myself. It was light drinking pure sweet wet sunshine. I quenched my thirst and saw some fish in the pool. Wonderful! Dinner too! I sat there at the edge and tried to catch some fish with my paws, but that didn’t work out so well. I was getting frustrated and hungry and I needed to get back. Taking one last vengeful swipe at the fish who mocked my hunger, I was surprised when my claw caught one of them and flipped it on to the bank. Quickly recovering I jumped on it before it could wiggle back into the pool. With my prize and filled water bottle in hand I started back. I was almost to the entrance of the cave when I heard a pained cry from inside. Dropping everything I rushed inside. Jimmy was thrashing about in incredible pain. “Jimmy! Jimmy look at me!” I held a water bottle up and poured it onto his face. The shock of it calmed him down enough to drink. His fever had only gotten worse. I made him drink slow long drinks. I talked to him. I told him about the wonderful mountains we were in, the mess that his car is and how I don’t think his insurance would cover it. I told him to get better so we could see Bobby and tease him some more about his ridiculous little girls show. He chuckled over that one but soon stopped as the pain in his head got to him. He looked me in the eye and I could see them become clear like they were before this whole mess started. I could see the real Jimmy fighting through the haze of injury and fever. “Thank you” With that he closed his eyes and went to sleep. His breathing was slow and shallow. Two more times this happened in as many hours. The third time it happened he looked at me and smiled and once more said. “Thank you my friend.” I could feel his paw weakening in my grip as he went to sleep, never to wake up. I cried manly tears for my friend. I buried him in not too far from the waterfall. I had to dig the grave with my paws which was all I had and then I moved a big stone over the spot to mark his grave. I then went to the car still partially buried in the mud slide and took inventory of all I had. There were both his and my backpacks. Mine held my laptop and projector and my iphone and the radio device for our robots. His held a couple engineering books that he was going to sell back. Not needing the books, I took those out. I fired up the laptop and thankfully it came to life. Thank God for Industrial strength shock proof computers. Yea I’m really hard on my electronics. My iphone worked but I couldn’t test the projector cause it required a plug. I took what was left of the road side kit and added it into a backpack. I went looking through his glove box and found a smith and Wesson .45 with two full clips. What the!? A joke came to mind about the old lady who got pulled over and the cop saw a .22 sitting in her front seat. He then asked her to relinquish all firearms. She handed him the .22 then pulled a 9mm. from the glove compartment, a .45 from under her seat, a 38 special from the side door pocket and a tactical pump shotgun from the trunk. When the cop asked what she was afraid of, she said absolutely nothing. The problem was that my paws were too big to hold and pull the trigger. Well that sucks. I decided to take it anyway. Maybe I could modify it later. I scraped whatever electronics I could off of what was left of the robots and decided it was time to head out. Where do I go from here? North, yea, north sounds good.
Meet the Locals - good and bad“Whaaaaahhhhhhooooo!!!!!” This was more fun than riding a humpback whale in a hurricane! I could do this all day. And what was I doing you might ask. I was running a natural obstacle course at full speed and I was agile. I used to run a little bit back home but this was something new. I could keep up a steady 2 legged run at about 15-18 mph and when I drop to all fours! Whew, look out!! 40 mph baby, through the woods and mountains no less. My reflexes were quicker, my senses sharper. (but I was still down to my one good eye at the moment). I was able to dodge trees as soon as I saw them. I was even able to climb them and run through the branches without slowing down much and I just jumped over a twenty foot wide chasm like it wasn’t even there. Yeah, with my luck I was going to crash and burn tonight when I stopped. I’ll probably be so sore tomorrow I won’t be able to move for a few days, but at the time I didn’t care. I just did what ever I wanted. If I had a cobra I would have eaten that to. I stopped around mid afternoon by another river just as it plunged off a cliff. I cooled off and took another drink. I had an excellent view of what looked like a plain stretching off into the west as far as the eye can see. I was admiring the view when my stomach started to growl. Hmmmm.... I wonder if there is anything to eat out there. Maybe I could find a dear or a bird of some sort nesting in the grass. Heaven only knows I haven't come across anything to eat in this forest besides fish and monkeys and monkeys are to tough to eat and fish is getting old. (I've been traveling already for about a week. did I mention that? oops!). "Well I have nothing else better to do." and with that said, I started my decent to the plain below. ________________________________________________________________________ (earlier that day) "Zimba! Where are you going?" "No where Mom! As if you would let me go anywhere outside of the village." the young Zebra added under his breath. "I heard that!" Zimba flinched. Moms are scary sometimes. It almost seems like they have have superpony ears that can hear a piece of grass being blow in the wind 5 miles away. He couldn't understand how his mom is able to hear anything at all much less his mutterings. His mother was the village shaman and so she would spend most her days experimenting and making new potions and remedies that would sometimes blow up violently in her face as she mixed them. Especially the potions she would mix using the strange herbs his sister would send them. "So, where are you going?" his mother asks in a gentler tone, sensing that her son was upset about something. He looked around the hut trying to find an excuse to give his mother as he didn't know where he was going. He was just so stinking board being cooped up in the village. He started stroking the necklace he was wearing. It was a gift from his father on his last birthday. It had had little smooth pieces of dark wood with ruins on it to protect and guide the hart of a Zebracan warrior. He was proud of the gift and was always reminded of the Greatness of Momboza, the Chief, his father. That's when, he had the thought. "To go find Dad" he tells his mother as he slowly walks out of the hut. His mother sighs as she continues to stir the brew she was making. She knew her young colt has a restless spirit but with all the trouble plaguing the village by a creature that has settled in the plain surrounding them it was too dangerous for anypony outside of the magic enhanced boundaries of the village. 'I'm sorry my son' she thought, ' but untill this evil... thing is killed or driven off,' She felt that thought just hang there. She knew that her magic wasn't strong enough to drive this creature away. It could barley keep it at bay. Even now she could feel its influence as its mere presence next to the village wares down her enchantments. She has to, almost daily, renew them in addition to making portable enchantments for the village warriors who have to venture out into the plain. It was slowly wearing her out, and she was afraid for her husband Momboza as well. He, as the village chief, was even now with the village elders coming up with a plan to drive it away by force. she shivers and prays to the goddess of the sun to protect those she loves in this time of trial and darkness. __________________________________________________________________ " But Momboza! That's suicide! The Catoblepas cannot be run off with a show of brute force. It will kill us all." said one of the tribal elders. The arguments and plans had been going on for five hours strait and they had gotten no where. There was a lot of fear in the room as they continued to discuss the problem. Frankly Momboza couldn't blame them too much. To be honest, the first time he had seen the beast he had been so frightened that if he hadn't of been leading a group of his warriors, he would have turned tail and raced back to his own hut and not come out for two days. And, he is the chief and subsequently the greatest and strongest warrior in the village. 'And my son is growing up to be just as fine of a warrior' he thinks proudly at that last part. His thoughts then return to the meeting at hand. "Well then, do you have a better plan?" " What if we tried to make a peace offering to it or bait it into a trap or have your wife create a spell to drive it off!" As soon as he said that last part, the village elder knew he had gone too far. Momboza's patience had held firm most of the meeting but that last suggestion caused it to snap and he got mad. "You think it is that easy?" he said in a low deep voice that was dripping with venom. "We have tried to make peace offerings and they have been denied. It has seen every trap we have tried to lay for it and has avoided them, and MY WIFE!" he was yelling by this point and took a deep breath to compose himself. "My wife has done everything in her power to make it so you" he points a hoof at the elder "can sleep peacefully at night. It has exhausted her to the point that I not only fear for her health but for her life, and you dare demand more from her?" The pain and worry evident in his eyes as well as his voice. "I am sorry Momboza." the elder said. "I did not know that she is in danger from this." Momboza snorts the last of his anger out. "Until this beast, this demon is gone, every Zebra is in danger." __________________________________________________________________ Zimba had heard enough. The meetings of the tribal leaders were supposed to be private, but the lose woven sides of the hut and the guards that only watched the entrance made sneaking around back and listening to the meeting easy for a young colt. He had been unnerved by what he had learned in those few minutes. He knew the village had been in danger for about a month now hence the restricted access out side the boarders of the village, but he had no idea that it was this serious. He also didn't know about how tired his mother had become in protecting the village. She was very good at hiding it. He felt a little guilty now about giving his mother a hard time earlier. What was it they called it? A Catoblepas? Yea, that's it. Even as he thought of the name, it sent chills down his spine. He remembered those bed time stories that his mother and sister would tell him, about a beast so hideous and ugly that one smell of its breath could paralyze you and if you looked into its eyes it was certain death. That last part had to be an exaggeration though, I mean come on. Dying just by looking something in the eye? Please. In fact, the more he thought about it, the less scary it became and the more he was certain that he could just run it off. I mean after all he was the strongest warrior in training, and he was graduating soon. He had even beaten most of the instructors and they were full fledged warriors. As he had been thinking about different battle plans for taking this ... beast on, he noticed that he had ended up right back at his own hut. He looked around and his mother was gone. 'Hmmm... must be out collecting more herbs.' he thought as he was looking around. That's when he saw it. His fathers war staff was hanging over his parents bed. This staff was the proud symbol of a great warrior and chief. The strange dark tattooed wood seemed to call to him, he raised his hoof as if to touch it. "If I had such a fine weapon as that, I would not be afraid of anything." He looked around to see if his mother was coming back any time soon and he stared at it a little more and then with his mind made up, he grabbed the staff and ran out the door and to the edge of the village so fast that no zebra saw him leave. "Now, I will track this beast down and show him what a true zebracan warrior can do." he proclaimed as he trotted off into the plain. He searched and searched for what felt like hours. The sun was beginning to sink low into the sky. He had traveled so far that he could see a range of green mountains far off on the horizon. Now that he thought about it, he had never been this far from the village before. He was beginning to wonder if he could find his way back before night fall. "Na... I'll be fine. I can find my way back." but for some reason he was still antsy. It felt like he was being watched. The sun seemed to speed up and it started to get darker quicker. 'I better get home now' he thought. He was now seriously questioning if his hasty flight from the village had been wise. As he started to turn back, he heard a huge bellowing roar! he looked over and there it was, it had to be it. The Catoblepas. He had never been so scared of anything in all his life. He could see it and he could smell it now. It reeked. he was beginning to rethink his foalish notions about the stories being an exaggeration. Right now he was glad that he couldn't see the eyes because he just might drop dead if he saw those hideous things. He took his fathers war staff in his trembling hooves and got in a defensive position. That's when he heard a rustling in the tall grass behind. Now he knew he was doomed. Danger in front and danger in back. he hoped his death would be painless. Just at that moment the Beast charged and Zimba braced himself for the assault. A very predatory roar was heard directly behind him. Zimba almost pissed himself when from out of the sky it seemed, came this huge orange mass of fur and claws and it charged straight at the catoblepas! __________________________________________________________________ "Damn it! Is there nothing to eat in this place!" I grumble to myself. I had been hunting around in this grass all afternoon and there was nothing. There were animal tracts but they all seemed to be a month old at least. It wasn't much longer though that I hear the grass rustling like something was coming near. I hid and silently waited for it. It was a Zebra. Yes! my luck had just changed. I was going to eat well tonight. I crouched down getting ready to pounce, and what came next floored me. The zebra spoke! "Na... I'll be fine. I can find my way back." the zebra said. I was stunned and at the same time my curiosity was peaked. A talking zebra? Well I'm a talking tiger so I guess this makes sense. 'Ah man! Now I can't eat it' I could never eat anything that has conscious thought. O well, I suppose I'm not any worse off than I was before. My hunger temporarily forgotten, I decided to follow him, umm... well I think it was a him anyway. He looked like he was kinda nervous. He kept looking back in a certain direction and the darker it got the more nervous he became. He then turned back the way he came and right then I catch a whiff of something on the breeze. I almost threw up. It smelled like 25 different kinds of wrong. Not two seconds later, a huge bellowing roar breaks the silence of the evening air. The zebra spins and faces this huge beast. it looks like a giant rhino but it had a bigger broader head with horns on the top and tusks out the side it had what seemed to be scales going down his back and a long reptilian whip like tail. It was ugly and it looked like the zebra, No! The zebra soon had a big stick in his hooves and it looked like he was going to fight this behemoth that is easily 10 times his size! I'm not sure that I had that kind of balls! This thing was easily 5 times my own size. I then noticed that the zebra was trembling. Oh boy, I better give him a paw. I hurriedly take off my back packs throw them to the side. The behemoth then starts to charge. I was just beginning to wonder what I was getting myself into when all of a sudden I get this feeling inside of me. It was strange. It was powerful. I felt like I had to let it out. I felt my muscles clench into tight iron bands. and I surprised myself when I roared a load almost scream type roar as I leaped over the zebra and charged strait at the monster. I rushed at it with the force of a furry freightliner. I tackled it and to my surprise I actually stopped its forward advance as my momentum knocked it over to the ground. I then began trying to bite it and claw at it. It was tipped over on it side and the hide on its back was too tough for me to get to so I attacked its softer but still tough belly. I thought I was doing a lot of damage but it soon recovered from my surprise assault and it hit me off with its tail. I was laying on the ground stunned and bleeding (that monster reopened the cut on my eye and was pouring blood all down my face and soaking the make shift eye patch I had on) when all of a sudden I see those huge tusks coming towards me. I quickly try to scramble away as it tries to stomp and gore and beat me to a bloody pulp. It kept roaring and hitting and as I kept blocking those tusks and giving my own roars and hisses. I was trying to strike back when and where I could. It was then I noticed the smell again only it was 20 times stronger. It started to get to me. I could feel my mind starting to fog up and I just began to bit and claw randomly at it's head while trying to avoid those tusks. I must have scored a few lucky hits as it would occasionally roar in pain and I would get drenched in blood. When It roared is when I noticed the smell got stronger. It was its breath! I could feel my hits getting weaker and my reflexes getting slower as my mind got foggier. I couldn't see. Finally, it had me pinned down and I thought for sure I was a goner when all of a sudden I hear a "THWAK!" and a roar. The beast steps away from me and I get a breath of fresh air. It felt like getting a bucket of ice water dumped on me. The fog in my mind lifted and I wiped the blood out of my good eye. Standing over me was the zebra. He had just delivered a powerful blow to the back of the monsters head with that stick. I see the monster growling and roaring in pain. It had blood all over its face. It looked like I may have gotten lucky and gored out its eyes. That blow seemed to hurt it more than anything else. I got an idea. I stand up on my two legs and look down at the zebra (I'm a good 3 feet taller than he is). "May I see that please?" I ask the Zebra looks at me with surprise. I can't tell if its because of how tall I am or that I just spoke to him. He nods his head and gives me the staff. I grab it and I felt a bit of a buzz coming from it like its alive or something. It felt... right. The beast was trying to charge again, but since it couldn't see it was having a much harder time. I run towards it and I feint to one side as I go for the other. I jumped up and I brought the stick down as hard as I could at the base of the skull where it connects with the neck. There was a massive explosion as the staff shattered in my paws. I was thrown backward and then... darkness. ________________________________________________________________ Coming up with a decent monster was tough. There arn't very many African monsters that I could find outside of Egyptian culture. lots of demons but few monsters. Here is the link where I found it at.http://www.mythicalcreatureslist.com/mythical-creature/Gorgon+-+African
Where?'aaaawwwwww, my head.' I think as my skull throbs like a drum. I lay there trying to remember what happened. 'Lets see, there was the zebra with the stick, the mutated rhinoceros, the fight, and then the ... explosion?' Where had that come from? 'uuuhhhh, my head hurts. Why does it feel like someone is still beating on it?' Wait a minute! I lay there for a little bit when I soon realize that I am actually hearing real drums. What the?I open my eyes, well eye anyway, and I saw a lot of dark blurry shapes. I had to blink a few times before my vision became clear. I was laying on some sort of woven grass mat in some sort of a hut. There were funny looking masks hanging on the walls and a giant cauldron in the middle with something cooking in it. I took a whiff. It smelled wonderful. I couldn't remember when the last time I ate was. I hear some voices from outside coming back towards the hut. I look towards the entrance just as the zebra who I had helped had walked in. He stopped and his eyes opened in surprise when he noticed I was awake and was looking at him. He stared at me and I got a better look at him. He was about three and a half tall and had enormous eyes that took up most of the front of his face and his head was rounder than a normal zebra's and his muzzle was a lot shorter. He also had on what looked like a wooden necklace. He looked at me and without saying a word turned around and left. It wasn't half a minute later when he comes back with in with four other zebras. All of them where taller than he was and three of them where decked out in face paint and had big staffs like the one the young zebra had. The fourth one was shorter than the other three but still taller than the zebra I had helped. She (well at least I'll assume its a she for now) had on a massive amount of metal ring around her neck and hooves. She moves over to my side as I try to sit up. She gets right up into my face and just stares at me. I try not to show it but she was starting to creep me out. "I see no evil intentions in this creature." she says as she backs away. The three with the staffs visibly relax. "What are you, creature?" she asks as she makes her way to the cauldron. I think about it for a minute "I guess I'm a tiger." "You guess? Don't you know what you are?" "Hey, I haven't been like this for very long. One minute I'm with my friend and the next I'm waking up in a mud slide looking like this." At this the three visibly tense up again. "There are more of you?" the biggest one asked. "Where are they? What do you intend to do here, tiger? Speak up!" he demanded. "There are no others. I don't even know where here is!" "You just said you came here with a friend. You keep changing your story so obviously you are lying!" "HE'S DEAD!" I yell at him. I take a deep breath to calm down. "He didn't survive his injuries from the mudslide." I look away from him as he hangs his head in embarrassment. I smell something good as a bowl of, porridge it looks like, is shoved under my nose. I look up and see the zebra mare handing me the food. "I know losing one you hold dear is hard and I am sorry for it." I take it as she glares at the big one. "You, my dear husband, should listen more before you accuse an innocent creature of ill intentions. You most of all should be grateful to this creature. He not only slew an enemy of this village and therefore saving all our lives, but he also saved your son." she adds, pointing a hoof over to the young colt who looked almost as ashamed as his father. "So where are you from?" turns to me and takes the now empty bowl to go refill it. "I don't know in relation to here. Heck I don't even know where here is. You wouldn't happen to have a map would you?" "I got it!" came the young one's voice as all of a sudden a scroll is spread out on the ground in front of me. I look at him and he is grinning from ear to ear. "So, what is your name, my very brave friend?" "I'm Zimba, and I'm not that brave, not like you." he added dejectedly. I almost choke on the porridge. "What do you mean your not brave? You were fixing to take down a beast at least ten times your size. That takes some real guts pal." by this time his parents were listening with greater interest. "Besides, you saved my life when you hit it when you did." Now his parents were staring in wide eyed shock at their son when they heard this. "I wasn't able to breathe or see clearly and it almost had me." He looks down in embarrassment. "Thank you." he whispers. "Oh, and what was that explosion at the end from? I wasn't expecting that." Once more his face takes on a look of awe. "You shattered my husband's war staff and they are enchanted to never break." came the reply from the mare. "No zebra or pony alive would be able to break it and you shattered it. the resulting stress caused the enchantment to escape all at once resulting in the explosion. In fact if we hadn't seen the explosion, we wouldn't have been able to find you till the morning." I nod my head until it all sinks in. "Wait, Enchanted? You mean like magic right?" "Of course." uuuuhhhh my head is starting to throb again. "Ok, where are we?" I ask getting back to the map. "We are right here." Zimba points to the south western edge of the map "on the Great Plains of the Equestrian Empire., and here is where my sister lives. I can't exactly remember the name of it." he points to a small town next to a forest near the center of the map. "Ponyville" I said. he looks up at me startled. "What?" I ask. "How did you know?" "It says it right there." "You can read this?" "Yeah, You can't?" "It is written in Equestrian not Zebracan." "So?" "You've been talking in fluent Zebracan. How do you know equestrian as well? I thought you said you've never been here before." "Hey, I've been talking in my native language called english and this is how we write." I say pointing to the map. Now he looks very confused. I understand the feeling. My head starts to hurt again as I rub it. The mare comes over and takes my dish and pushes me back down on the mat. "You need your rest. You'll feel better in the morning." with that said, I close my eyes and drift off into a dreamless sleep. ______________________________________________________________________ The next morning I wake up still tired and sore but at least I can think with out the blasted headache. I see the Mare from yesterday but I don't see her husband or his fellow guards or her son. "Morning, sleep well?" she asks. "Like a log." she gives me a puzzled look. "Oh, I forgot to thank you for patching me up and feeding me yesterday." She smiles as she comes over and takes the eye patch off. I blink away the blurriness as she says "Me, my family and this tribe owe you more than you know." She rubs a strong smelling ointment into my cut that hisses and stings for a second and the she rewraps it. "One more day and you should be better. You will still have a light scar there after this, but I didn't see any damage to the actual eye so you should still have your full sight." "Again, thank you. So.... whats your name? I don't remember if we got that far last night. I remember Zimba and I think heard your husband's but I cant remember his at the moment." "My name is Haiba. I am the shaman and enchantress for my tribe, and my husband is Momboza. He is the chief and leader of our tribe." she explains as she hands me a bowl of what looked like oat meal. "So what is your name o'mighty killer of the Catoblepas" I was about to answer when I was interrupted by a flash of black and white and a loud... "Hi mom! When's breakfast?" "Good morning, Zimba. You don't get yours till you have gathered all the fire wood for the day." "Awwwwwwww!" "Don't awwwwww me young colt, you know this is your punishment for running off the other day, and if you don't like it then I'm sure we could find you something harder to do." "How long is this going to last?" he whines. "Until your father and I say otherwise." "awwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwww" he groans as he sulks out of the hut. "Its nice to know that parenthood is universally the same everywhere." I said. "Oh. Do you have children?" "No ma'am, but what you just told him is something that my parents have said to me and my brothers countless times when we acted like that." we both kinda sit there with our own thoughts for a minute. "May I look at that map again?"She nods as I go over and look at it. "Where do you plan on going?" she asks after a few minutes. "I have no idea. Any one place seems to be as good as the next.to me." "If you decide to head north east towards Canterlot," she hesitates a moment "I have a daughter who lives out side a small town near there and would it be to much to ask if you could take her something from me, or if you aren't going all the way then could you drop it off at the nearest post office here in Clipton?" she says pointing on the map. I look at her face and I see worry there. Worry for what I'm not sure so I answered "Sure I'll take it." She relaxes a little but the worry is still there. If I'm going to carry anything I'll need to get my backpacks. Which reminds me... "Did anyone find my bags after fighting the monster." I ask. She hesitates for a second "We have found them but the chief is hesitant to return then since we do not understand the purpose for such strange devices." ______________________________________________________________________ (Authors notes) Just in case anyone has noticed or is wondering, Yes, I am doing everything in my power to avoid telling his name. The biggest reason was that for the first couple of chapters I didn't know what to call him and now i'm just trying to get away with seeing how far I can keep 'no name' going. why? you may ask. because I'm evil! Bwahahahahahaha! Please leave me comments. I need to know what i can do better.
Five Easy StepsAnyone, who has ever had to talk to a shrink or knows any one who has ever had to talk to a shrink after any traumatizing experience, has heard that there are five basic steps that a person goes through when dealing with grief. Step 1. Denial Step 2. Anger/ rage Step 3. Bargaining Step 4. Depression Step 5. Acceptance At the moment, I am sitting in a twelve foot sink hole, tired, dirty and miserable while experiencing step number five. How did this come about you might ask. How did you end up in such a place? Both are very good questions. Let me answer those by explaining what happened earlier today or maybe it was yesterday. I don't know what time it is now or how much time has passed. *Flash Back* _________________________________________________________________________________ "Well, if Chief Momboza would allow me to show you what they are and how they work, then would he allow me to have them?" "I would have to talk with him but I believe that could be arranged." "Wonderful!" I laid back down and watched Haiba as she goes back to stirring something in that huge black cauldron. My mind drifts in and out of thoughts as I just lay there. My thoughts started out harmless enough. I began thinking about Zimba and how he kinda reminds me of myself at that age (which I was guessing to be about 16). Then they switched to my experiences at that age. The day I got my drivers license, the first time my parents allowed me to take the car out on my own, my junior prom, my first kiss, all came back to me. I then began to remember all the adventures I've had in my relatively short life. That fifty mile hike with the boy scouts was awesome. The time I went snorkeling off the Florida Keys was incredible. Those two summers I spent as a life guard at the water park. It wasn't the most fun job in the world but I got an awesome tan out of it. They also taught us some pretty hardcore first aid too. Every thing from dealing with a cut and dehydration to how to backboard a spinal injury in a pool was taught to us. It was not only taught but drilled into our heads on at least a weekly basis. Some of those scenarios they had us do were pretty life like, but they didn't teach us how to treat a head injury like Jimmy's. My stomach began to fell sour at this point so I changed my train of thought. My mind fast forwarded a few years to college. My very first vehicle I bought myself was in freshman year. It was a 1971 Dodge d100 pick up truck (hey, I am a southern boy after all). I affectionately called her Beatrix or Trixie for short. I remember switching out the transmission. She used to be an automatic but now she was a stick shift. I had to redesign and fabricate half the clutch linkage. That was a major turning point in my life. That project help me realize that being a mechanical engineer is what I wanted to do for the rest of my life. I started thinking about the first time I meet Jim and Bobby. We were sophomores taking the same AUTO CAD class. We actually started out as rivals. We each wanted to be the best designer, the best at creating 3D models, and we created masterpieces. The professor (I think) got tired of the competition, because we never left the man alone. One of the three of us was always calling, emailing, or pestering him in his office. So for his revenge, He assigned the three of us to work together on the final project. Chugga chugga Chugga chugga choo choo! Here we go round the bend! Oh no, we're going too fast! Aaaaaahhhhhhhh!!!! Crash!!!!! ........... It was a complete and total disaster. Yea, doing that project with two other egomaniacs was hell. We each had our own style of doing things. We argued and disagreed so much that nothing got done. We hurriedly threw something together the night before so we actually had something to turn in. Needless to say that we failed the final project. (and cue evil laughter of the professor). "Bwahahahahahaha!" We all still passed but it brought our grade down a bit. After that, we were walking out of class and across the muddy field, arguing all the way. When all of a sudden, Jimmy slipped and fell in the mud. Bobby and I looked at each other and just busted up laughing. It wasn't two seconds later that a couple of mud balls came and hit us right in the face. Bam! Thwack! We looked down and there was Jimmy with the biggest grin on his stupid face holding two more mud balls. The next thing we knew, all three of us were wrestling in the mud and having a good ol' time. From that moment on, we became the best of friends. After this memory, my mind started flashing forward again, and the memories started to come faster. That summer vacation with the family were we went hiking, the rugby class I took, all the times goofing of with my friends, the time I went to Washington DC, all of the memories for the last 2 years kept coming faster and faster and FASTER! The project assignment for the robots, the assembly and programing, the pizza eaten and jokes made while working on them, Bobby in the hospital.....job offer............rain and mud...........pain.............blood............JIMMY! I woke up with a gasp and was breathing heavily! My head hurt, and my stomach felt like it's tied up in knots. I began looking around and I realized that I'm not where I'm supposed to be. 'Since when does my apartment have masks hanging on the walls? Where is my bed? What the hell happened to my hands? Why is there a fire with a big cauldron in my living room? Holy Cow! What is a zebra doing in here?' 'Wait!' I took a deep breath to try and calm myself, and took one more look around the room. The memories from the past week and a half or so came back to me, and the feelings of dread and despair only made me feel worse. I needed to find a way to distract myself. "Are you alright?", asked a nice comforting voice from the other side of the room. Looking over, I realized it was the zebra asking the question. "Yes, I'm fine.......Haiba." I had almost forgotten her name in the muddled mess that was once my brain, and I started looking around for a distraction from the clutter of emotions drowning me. I turned and saw Haiba placing rocks carefully in the bubbling goop so it doesn't splash. "So, what are you working on?" I asked her as I shakily got up and joined her next to the big pot. "I am working on a special brew that will, among other things, give any inanimate object that is dipped in it the strength of stone while keeping its size and weight." She must have seen the confused look on my face so she continued. "The magic that my people have may be different from what your kind practice." She explained, "The strength for some types of magic come from inside ones own body. Like a unicorn's magic comes from inside his or herself and is channeled out through their horn." 'My kind? Magic? Unicorns? I'm starting to feel sick again.' "Others use magic from the environment. You can feel the ebb and flow of the magic in the land if you meditate long enough. They are able to take it into themselves and then project it back out to manipulate their surroundings as they see fit. That is how pegasi are able to move clouds and how earth ponies are able to grow food. But we zebras are different, We cannot absorb the magic of the land and then make it do what we want it to do." 'Pegasi and earth ponies? Next thing you know she'll probably say dragons are real as well.' 'Why is it so hard to breath in here?' "We zebras have a unique talent, you may say, of being able to harvest the magic of the land by making special brews and potions. Take this brew for instance, it has a base agent in it that is helpful in the extraction and mixing of the magics of the objects placed in it. It absorbs the strength from the stones and mixes it with the rest of the brew so when the staff is dipped in it then it will receive the strength of stone. There are also the leaves of several types of plants that have known healing powers. They help to give strength and stamina to the holder of the staff.... Hey, are you all right? You don't look so good." By this time, I was breathing so hard I was nearly hyperventilating. "Here, drink this." She gives me some clear liquid in a cup. I reach for it. "What is it?" "It is a tonic made from the shed scales of dragons. It'll help calm you nerves and stomach. ' Did she just say what I thought she said? Oh no! this can't be happening! I need to get out of here!' With that last thought, I dropped the cup and ran out the door. I ran through the village and out in to the savanna towards the late afternoon sun. I ran faster than I had ever run before, but it wasn't fast enough. So, I dropped down on all fours and quickly tripled my speed. It wasn't long before those pesky problems I was running from caught up to me. 'Where am I and How did I get here? Why did Jimmy have to die? Why am I a freaking tiger man? What is this place that has talking zebras and freaky monsters the size of a rhinoceros? Are there really unicorns and pegasi here? Do they talk too? Is this all some sort of weird fever induced dream?' 'Yea, that's it! This is all a dream. What really happened is I'm sitting in some hospital bed in a coma after they dug us out of the mud. I imagined Jimmy dying when he really had woken up. When people get trapped in these types of self induced nightmares, all they have to do is realize that what they are seeing isn't reality. Then they have to wake themselves up by killing their dream selves.' 'This could work. I don't have a top to spin or anything so what can I use? I skid to a halt and look around. I see a rock. That's it! What goes up must come down. I'll just throw this rock up in the air and if it doesn't land I'll know what this place is and how to beat it.' I picked up the rock and threw it up as high as I could. I watched it get smaller and smaller as it went higher. It just seemed to hang there. "Yes!" I jumped up and did a little victory dance. "Now I know what to do! Where is that gun?" Next thing I knew, My head hurt really bad. It was like getting hit by a rock... wait a minute? I look down and there was the rock that I had thrown. "What the..? What's going on here?" I picked up the rock and tossed it up about a foot in the air. When I did, I noticed that the rock had a noticeable hang time of a couple seconds then it fell. "What is this place!?" The biggest problem that concerned me was that I was stuck. I had no answers for any of my questions. The more I thought about this strange land and the circumstances of my arrival here, the more my confusion was replaced by anger. I was pissed. I picked up that accursed little rock with my hand... er paw (see i don't even know what I should call my own body parts!) and threw it as hard as I could. I sat there and brooded and I got angrier and angrier. I couldn't take it any more! I let out the biggest roar/ yell that I could, and I attacked anything that was close to me. Huge clumps of grass were uprooted. dirt was thrown everywhere. Any rocks around quickly followed their friend. I destroyed the ground around me. I was a fiend. I was a force to be reckoned with. I thought of everything as I terrorized the area. "Stupid mud slide!" There went a clump of grass. "Damn freaking monsters!" A bush was reduced to kindling. "And Damn you Jimmy for leaving me here like this!" a boulder was launched into the air. I don't remember how long I was at it. I didn't even realize that I had started running again until I felt my self fall down this hole I'm in now. The the sudden jarring from hitting the bottom was like a slap to the face. It brought me back to my senses. My body hurt. My mind hurt. My heart hurt. I was exhausted. The tears started to flow. They didn't ask me if I wanted them to come, but I didn't stop them.This time I didn't care if they were manly or not. My mind went back to the last day of Jimmy's life. I remembered how he thanked me for being there for him, for being his friend. "I'm sorry Jim that I wasn't strong enough to save you." Having said that, I sat there and cried the tears I should have finished crying at his side. I had been trying to run away from the pain while at the same time trying to remember my friend. I realized that I had been running away from the whole situation. I was running from the questions that I had no answers to.I sat there late into the night loathing myself for my cowardice about my situation. The only thing that I have done since I got here is run from my problems, but no more! I made a vow then and there that I will face them and even if I don't understand what is going on I will find the answers no matter how strange they be. After that, I felt a strange calm come over me. Nothing about my situation has changed but oddly I'm not worried about it any more. Things will work out, come what may. Well, That pretty much brings you to the point where I'm at right now. Sitting in a hole and trying to decide what I will do next. I had already promised Haiba that I would deliver a package to her daughter so that would be as good start as any right there. After that? Who knows. ___________________________________________________________________________ ]Author: Hello all my readers. I apologize for the delay. Work was a killer these past couple of weeks. I realize that this chapter may still have some issues with the grammar. I will fix them as soon as I can. I wanted to get this posted mostly just to keep the story line going. I think this chapter answered a lot of questions that were posted. I do not know when the next chapter will be completed either, so please be patient with me. Comments are always appreciated .
ExplanationsHaiba was pacing in front of her hut. "You didn't find him?" "No, we found his tracks heading west but he ran off so quickly and so late in the day that we had to get back home before it got dark." Momboza answered. "Even with the Catoblepas gone, it is still dangerous to be outside the village after dark. Even as we were turning around to come back we heard a monstrous roar off in the distance followed by what sounded to be several massive animals fighting. One of the warriors was even hit on the head by a rock from that direction." Hearing this didn't help to calm her fears. In fact, it only made them worse and her pacing quickened. When Momboza saw that his wife was truly concerned about this stranger, he put his arm around her to stop her pacing and held her close. "Don't worry about him too much my dear. He's a big tiger thingy. I'm sure he can take care of himself. I mean after all, He did kill a Catoblepas." Haiba couldn't help but lean into the safety of the towering strength of her husband. After all these years, it still felt wonderful to be held by him, but she still wasn't so sure about the tiger. "You didn't see the look in his eyes as he ran off." she responded quietly "It seemed as though his whole world fell apart around him. The pain and fright seemed too much for him. He looked like a little foal who had lost his way and had no where to turn to." She was afraid about what he might do to himself while in such a state. Momboza understood his wife's caring heart. Even when she was a young filly, she had always cared for the well being of others. That has always been her strongest attribute. It has made her a better shaman and, more importantly to him, a better wife and mother for their family. If he was the Village's strength then she was its heart. He nuzzled her gently. "Lets go inside and I promise that at first light we will start looking again." She nuzzled him back and allowed him to lead her inside. _____________________________________________________________________________ (The next day) It was about mid day when I finally awoke and sat up. "uuuuuuuuuuhhhhhhhhhhhhgggggggg." 'Ya know, ever since I came to this place I have yet to wake up and not be sore or injured of some sort.' my stomach growled ' or hungry.' I thought as I arched my back and stretched out my front legs. I then stretched out my hind legs and sat down to evaluate how best to get out of this sink hole. 'It only seems to be about twelve feet deep so I should be able to jump out pretty easily,' I crouched down and jumped as hard as I could. I surprised myself as I cleared the top of the hole with two ft. to spare. Oh, and I also surprised a heard of antelope that was grazing nearby. I was kinda expecting them to bolt away. I mean come on, a big 400 pound mass of dirt, fur, teeth and claws all of a sudden pops out of a hole in the ground, and you don't run away? To their credit, they just stood there, not moving. I just sat there in shock. They did look kind of tasty but I had to test the waters so to speak. "Hi there, um... can any of you talk?" "..." "MONSTER!" They screamed. And as one unit, they hightailed it out of there. "Damn! Well I guess that answers that question." I looked around and tried to figure out which direction I came from. It was nearly impossible to tell with the sun directly over head and the trampling of the antelope scattered any of my own tracks from last night. 'hmmm... Lets see. I do remember running toward the sun in the afternoon so the village must be east...ish from here. I hope. Now which way is east?' Lets face it, with out a compass or the sun being in one direction or the other, I was lost. With out a direction to go, I decided to at least follow the antelope. They marked a pretty decent trail through the tall grass. ________________________________________________________________________________ "Come on gents! Get those covered carts secured! I don't want the cargo getting lost due to carelessness!" Ordered the burly unicorn as he supervised the mass of activity that involved the entire caravan. "We only need a few of you to come to the village, so the rest of you can guard the expensive merchandise!" "But boss, what kind of merchandise should we bring with us?" asked a young pegasus stallion. The burly unicorn just rolls his eyes "Your new at this aren't ya?" The young pegasus just nods. "You got a name?" "Fleet Wing, sir" "Well Slow Hoof, let me clue you in on something.These zebras are pretty stupid. They would pay gems for trinkets so that's what we'll give them. Some glass beads or a cheap set of pots or a bolt of cloth, a couple of dragon scales, I don't care just so long as its not too expensive." "Uhm... it's Fleet Wing sir, but what do they have that we would travel for two weeks to the middle of nowhere for?" At this, the unicorn smiled. It sent shivers up the young pegsus's spine. "Potions, zebras make the most powerful potions in all Equestria and these particular zebras have the best potion maker of all the zebra tribes. Just one potion that she makes will pay for this trip alone, and I intend to clean out her inventory." ____________________________________________________________________ "How far can this guy run?" Momboza mumbled. He and Zimba and about four other warriors had been out since first light just as he had promised his wife. They had followed his tracts to a huge clearing that looked like it was the place of the fighting animals from yesterday. There was grass and soil torn up, bushes shredded, and rocks thrown all over the place. "Great! This is going to be fun trying to find his trail in all this." Zimba moaned. "Spread out and see if you can find his trail again on the edge of this mess." Momboza ordered. "If we can find wh..." All of a sudden the ground started to tremble as a whole heard of antelope burst into the clearing. "Look out!" a warrior shouted. Momboza ran out of the way of the heard and tripped one of the antelope on the edge with his staff. before it could get back up, he got over top of it and asked, "Why are you running? What is chasing you?" "A MONSTER!" "What monster? What did it look like?" Momboza knew that antelope were skittish and easily frightened to begin with, but with the mention of a monster roaming around he had to make sure that it wasn't something like the last monster that terrorized his village. "It was horrible! It was orange and had big teeth and claws and it came straight from Tartarus from a hole in the ground!" Momboza felt an odd mixture of relief and confusion as he realized that this 'monster' was the missing tiger and not some demon from the underworld come to torment them further. But, why was he in a hole? After letting the antelope up to run after its herd, Momboza led his small band down the antelope path. They hadn't gone too far when the spied a dirty orange shape in the distance. It seemed to notice them as well because it started running faster. He skidded to a halt and exclaimed, "Chief! Zimba! Am I glad to see you guys! He looked like he was about to embrace them, but Momboza was going to have none of that. With out a moments hesitation, he grabbed his staff and smacked the tiger on the head. _______________________________________________________________________ "Ow! What was that for?" I asked as soon as I was able to see straight. "That was for worrying my wife. She's been a nervous wreck since you ran off the other day." I started feeling guilty as I rubbed the sore spot on my head. "First Zimba then you. She doesn't deserve this. As it is, you may end up sharing Zimba's punishment." Now I felt really bad. I didn't mean to upset the mare who had been so helpful to me, and I certainly didn't want to be punished by her. "I'm sorry. I didn't intend to worry her like that. I kinda got lost and couldn't find my way back to the village." He took a deep breath and let it out. "Its alright. Are you going to be ok? "Yeah, yeah I'll be fine." "Good" And in another swift movement, He brought that staff down on my head again. "GEEZ! What was that for?" I hissed in pain as I held my head. "That was for making me come out here to find you." Zimba and the warriors stared chuckling. "Yeah that, and you need to learn how to duck." Zimba piped in. Momboza then took a swing at Zimba. There was a resounding smack as it made contact with his head. Now the warriors busted up laughing. "Looks like you need some more practice your self Zimba!" one of them hollered. I couldn't help chuckle myself as both of us nursed sore heads. Momboza just smiled. "Come on, your mother will have dinner waiting" ____________________________________________________________________ It was approaching dusk when we made it back to the village. Haiba was the first one to greet us as she ran up and embraced her husband and then her son. When she looked at me, she stood up straight and gave me a scolding I'll never forget. "Where have you been? You had me worried sick! Didn't you know that its dangerous out there by yourself at night? I have half a mind to work you till you can't stand any more. Look at you're self. You're absolutely filthy! You are not allowed back in my hut until you go down to the river and bathe." She pointed to just out side the village. As soon as she took a breath, she wrapped her hooves around me in the biggest hug. "I'm sorry that you have had such a hard time here." This whole display of emotion made me a bit uneasy. I'm not very good with dealing with all of this so I just embraced her back and hoped that my awkwardness didn't show. "Now," she stepped back sniffing as she tried to wipe away some tears. She gave me a bar of lye soap. "Go and get cleaned up. Dinner will be waiting for you when your done." As I was washing in the river, I tried to understand just how come these zebras cared so much about me. The care and love of Haiba. The silent concern of Momboza. The playful banter with Zimba. It was like they adopted me with out my permission. Not that I'm complaining or anything. It has been wonderful being around a family again. It had been a few months since I last saw my own family. I didn't get to make it back home much this past semester. In order to not be overcome by this recent bout of homesickness, I put all my efforts into scrubbing myself clean. I scrubbed till my coat gleamed. The fur down my chest and stomach was actually white not brown like I had thought it was, and the rest was a nice deep orange with stripes as black as night running all over my body. I finally got a good look at my eyes now that I had the bandage off. They were a metallic green and they were slit pupils like a normal cats eye. I felt and looked like a million bucks. When I walked into the hut, all conversation stopped as everyone looked at me. "..." "What?" "So that's what you look like." Zimba answered. "Ha, Ha, I forgot how to laugh." I sat down next to him as Haiba gave me a bowl with some soup in it. "You look very nice. Much better than being caked in mud now isn't it?" "Yes ma'am, it is." "I just have to know one thing before anypony else asks you questions." "Yes ma'am, What is it?" "What is your name?" I was shocked. I had been with them for nearly three or four days and I hadn't ever properly introduced my self. "It's Tony" "..." "Well that's a stupid name" Zimba said right before his mother slaps him on his foreleg. "Be polite." "Its alright. I guess around here it does sound kind of weird" "Back home, having a name like Zimba would be kinda funny. That kid would get teased to no end." Zimba slugs me on the arm. "So where are you from?" Momboza asks as he joins in on the conversation. Now that was a loaded question. I decided to give them the briefest overview I possibly could. I explained about earth and a little about its geography. I talked about my home country and how it was divided up into states. I told them about my family and where we lived in the south. They were a bit shocked when I told them that my world had no magic. "So what was your occupation?" Momboza asked. "Well, I was just about to graduate collage with a degree in mechanical engineering." I got three blank stares for that one. "It means that I can create things that help to solve problems." "Ohhhhh" they say simultaneously. "Is that what those strange square things are for? To help you solve problems?" Zimba asked. "Square things? ... Oh, you mean my computer. Yes, they help me to design things and allows me to take notes and stuff. Not to mention, allowing me to have some fun while I work. "Can I see it!?" "Its up to your dad. He has them at the moment." "Dad can we?" "Fine, go get them" And like a black and white streak of lightning, Zimba was out the door and back again in 15 seconds flat. Needless to say, they were all pretty fascinated by my laptop. Luckily with it off, the battery still had a charge to it but only about an hours worth. When I told them it ran on bottled lightning a.k.a a battery, they where astounded. I could have sworn I heard Haiba mumble something about us not having any magic. I showed them pictures of me and my family and friends. At first they didn't believe me that that was what I looked like before I got here. I showed them how I had songs and games on it as well, and after all this Momboza started to rub his head. "Now I know how you felt when you got here." "Yea it was quite a shock" "Well I'm glad that your all right now and I just wish we could help you get back home." Zimba said. I shuffled my paws a little, not sure how to say this right. "I think you already have helped me get a home." At this, Momboza and Haiba shared a look like they were communicating silently. "Huh? What do you mean? Zimba inquired. "Well, ever since I got here you three have nursed me back to health in both body and mind and I have actually felt like you've cared for me. I appreciate you including me like you have." We all sat there for another good five minutes in silence before Haiba said that it was late and that we needed to go to bed. As I lay there on my mat, I realized that this was the happiest I've felt since I came to Equestria. I felt a low rumbling in my chest and it started to get louder. It sounded like a diesel engine idling. I laid there for a few minutes as I tried to get it under control but I couldn't stop. ' Am I purring?' ____________________________________________________________________________ Author: Hey everypony! I was writing this chapter and it seemed to just keep going on and on so I split it up into two chapters. The plot should move faster in the next chapter. Hope ya'll enjoy it. As always constructive criticism is appreciated. And yes tony the tiger is supposed to be a joke. He has no clue what an appropriate equestrian name is so he gave his human name. which just so happens to be tony, hope you like it.
TradersAuthor: the green text is them speaking Equestrian. Hope you enjoy! Celestia's sun was coming up over the savanna causing a light mist to come up as it burned away the dew. Fleetwing grunted as he was awoken by a light kick to the side. "Come on, get up!" came the command from the burly unicorn. "Everypony up now! We have at least another hour of walking time before we reach the village." One by one Fleetwing and about six others, each with their own small cart of baubles and trinkets to sell, got up, ate a quick breakfast and got ready to move. Fleetwing never expected the traveling merchant life to be so rough. Especially since they couldn't fly any where. When he had signed up back in Clipton over a month ago, He had been expecting it to be a little more exotic then this. He had been hoping for adventure, and visiting royal courts and stuff. Much to his disappointment, He learned yesterday that they came all the way out to the middle of nowhere just to swindle some poor zebras. They had left the main part of the caravan the day before and he had a question that he had been wanting to ask. "Hey Boss!" The unicorn just turned around and stared at him. "Umm.... why did we leave the main caravan so far back?" The big unicorn just continued to stare at him. As he was turning around to walk the other way he said, "Because I hate nosy zebras." They hitched themselves up to their carts and started walking. Fleetwing had never seen what was in the covered carts that they had always hauled around. 'Obviously it was something very valuable or else Boss wouldn't have left nearly half of the camp back to guard them. Maybe it was Some great treasure, or maybe it was something that would spoil in the sun and so it had to stay covered or maybe...' The more he pondered on the mystery of the covered carts, the more Fleetwing could feel the tingle of adventure. He just had to know. Maybe the boss would tell him now that he had been with the caravan for a while. "Hey Boss!" "What now?" the unicorn grumbled. "I was just wondering. Now that I've been with the troop for a bit , I just wanted to know... what is in the covered carts?" The unicorn glared at the young pegasus. Fleetwing felt a shiver run up his spine. Maybe he hasn't been with the troop long enough. "The one thing I hate more than a nosy zebra is a nosy hired hand." Fleetwing gulped. 'Maybe I should have kept my mouth shut' They traveled for another hour or so before the village finally came into sight. _______________________________________________________________________________ "WAKE UP!" "GWAAAAAAHHHHHH!" Zimba yelled as he burst into the hut, nearly giving me a heart attack in the process. "Come on. Get up lazy. You missed breakfast and dad has already gone out on southern patrol." I sat there clutching my chest and trying to get my breathing under control. I felt an almost overwhelming desire to hiss at the young intruder who dared to wake me up in such a fashion. "And the reason you had to wake me up like this is because...?" "A trading caravan has come!" exclaimed the energetic young zebra. "They always have some neat stuff! I didn't want you to miss out on all the fun." I sigh "All right... I'm coming" He left as I stretched my self awake. I checked my self to see if I was presentable and clean still, and I was. Man, that is a nice feeling to be clean. I walked out of the hut and there wasn't a zebra in sight. 'hmmm... They must all be at the trader's caravan.' I heard a bunch of excited noises coming from the north side of the village so I made my way in that direction. I was just about to round the corner of a hut when I hear a loud voice Bellowing above the crowd, "Thank you all for this kind welcome." What I saw almost gave me a small panic attack. The one speaking was a big unicorn with a dark yellow coat and a light green mane and he had a tattoo on his ass. It looked like a pair of manacles with a dollar sign over them. All around him where about six or so other ponies. Each one just as colorful, and they all had different tattoos in the same place as the big guy did. 'Ha! What a rediculus thing to have. Must be some sort of initiation into the trade or something. I don't see the zebras with... hold on a second.' I looked around at the zebra crowd. I slowly started to notice that each had different designs on their rump as well. Their patterns were a lot more subtle as they tended to blend in with their stripes. The more I looked, the more it began to sink in just how obvious they were. 'How did I miss those? If they have them too, then...' Suddenly feeling a little nervous, I looked around to make sure no one was watching, and I quickly took off my shorts (or whats left of them. they were getting pretty torn up as they were the only things I had to wear.) and I checked to see If I had such a mark. I saw nothing but orange and black stripes that appeared to be in no particular pattern. I sighed in relief as I put my shorts back on. I was about to come out of the shadows when the unicorn started to talk again. "All are welcome to come and trade at the wagons of Claptrap an affiliate of the Flim Flam Bro. Trading Co. I am looking for the great chief of the tribe. Can some pony please point me to him?" Haiba and an older Zebra (I'm guessing he was one of the tribal elders) stepped forward. " The chief is away on business so we will trade in his stead." the elder announced. The unicorn seemed to be pleased with this news as he turned around to his troop and spoke in a language I didn't understand. "All right boys the chief ain't home at the moment and neither is most of the warriors. Just do what you normally do and wait for my signal." All of them but one, a certain pegasus, nodded as they started setting up their stalls. "Hey guys, what did he mean 'Wait for his signal'?" Fleetwing asked. "Just tend to your cart and take your cues from us" said a gruff looking earth pony with a punching bag cutie mark. "Look alive you have a customer." Fleetwing turned around just as a young zebra stallion not much younger than himself was walking up to him. I was once more about to come out from behind the hut when Haiba, the tribal elder, and Claptrap the unicorn walked by the hut I was hiding behind. I caught a whiff of something. It wasn't overly strong but it did make all the hairs on the back of my neck tingle. It made me rethink about stepping out into plain sight. I decided that maybe I should check it out. I crouched down and started to stalk the three as they made their way to a hut that looked like it was meant to have meetings in. I made my way around back as I followed the voices and more importantly, that smell. The more I tried the more I could distinguish Hiaba's and the tribal elder's scents. I could also smell a musty scent that must have been the unicorn's, but there was that other one. Both seemed to come from the same direction in the room. It must be coming from the unicorn as well. "So, lets get down to business, shall we?" Claptrap said. "Yes." said the tribal elder. "What is it you wish to trade for?" "Well I was wanting to trade for some potions and a few of staffs.." "Unfortunately we have had some trouble lately and our potion stock is low. What kind of potions were you wanting?" Haiba asked. "Well what do you have? In order to make this trip worth while I will need at least fifty potions and about ten staffs. I will trade you nine bolts of the finest spider silk and five sets of the best pots and pans this side of the celestial empire." Some thing about the way this guy said that made me shiver. He sounds too much like a sleazy used car salesman. Why did he need so many and that price seemed too low even if he was haggling. I mean he is talking about magic that takes some times days to make right, for pots and pans? "I'm sorry but we only have half that in potions and staffs, and we must reserve some for our selves. So, the best we can offer you is fifteen potions and two staffs for five bolts of cloth and four sets of pots and pans and ten dragon scales." the elder said "..." "Deal!" I was nodding as the tribal elder laid down a better deal but the price still seemed low. I was startled when the trader agreed to it so quickly. Something was up and that smell just got stronger. ' I think I'll go look at these pots and pans and cloth.' ________________________________________________________________________________ After Tony had left the edge of the hut with the inhabitants inside ignorant to his actions, the conversation inside took a sudden and drastic change. "So my dear mare," said claptrap in an oily voice. "I am curious, How long does it take to make such fine potions as yours?" This trader was starting to get on her nerves. In order to shut him up and get him out of her mane, she said. "A couple of days per type of potion." "Hmmm... You know, I might have a place for you in my caravan if your interested." "No thank you." He placed his hoof on hers. "A wonderful creature such as yourself could become very wealthy and respected in..." WHAM! A hoof all of a sudden came down hard on top of his. The Elder had had enough with this trader. "You will show proper respect to our Shaman and Chief's wife or the deal is off and you and your caravan must leave!" The Unicorn just glared at the elder. "I do not take orders from some wrinkly old windbag like you" With that said, a gold aura appeared around the unicorns horn. A pair of ropes appeared out of the air and hog tied and gagged the elder. He goes over and slams his hoof in to the side of the zebra's head knocking the elder unconscious. "Ha! Now you will not ord...OOF!" Was all he could say before Haiba bucked him in the stomach. "Oh no you don't!" he wheezed. He caught her near the entrance of the hut as she tried to run for help. He made more ropes appear and tied her up. "Now my dear, you will come with me. I'm sure there is somepony out there willing to pay a decent price for a strong mare such as yourself. Even if you are a bit past your prime. The market is just swamped with orders for a decent potion maker." "Hurmph muph humfand fifs ooh!" "I don't think so deary. No one will even know you are gone. For a while anyway." "I will make a a duplicate of you that will last for a few hours and by that time we will be long gone." His snake like grin was the last thing Haiba saw before her world went dark. ________________________________________________________________________ Author: Now things are starting to heat up. here is the other half of the chapter. Please comment! Criticism is always appreciated.
Time To Go HuntingZimba had been shopping for a while now, moving from one cart to another. He was having trouble deciding what he wanted to buy as he had been waiting for a certain striped cat to get his furry butt over here. 'Where is he?' He continued to make his way back to the cart that was operated by a light green pegasus with a sky blue mane and he had a wing wreathed in flames for his cutie mark. None of the other carts had any thing he could afford. "See thing you like?" the green pegasus asked in semi broken Zebracan. "Yes, I want to see your necklaces again." "Oh? Young warrior have some special in mind? A mare pretty perhaps? Ahh! Here are!" Fleetwing coughed. Speaking Zebracan always made his throat tickle, and he knew he was just butchering the language. Zimba felt his cheeks flush red at what the merchant said. He wasn't about to admit this to anypony but the day after the fight with the Catoblepas he was out gathering fire wood as his punishment. When a very pretty, young zebra mare came up to him and told him she thought he was very brave to fight the monster on his own. She then gave him a quick kiss on the cheek and left. He remembered how his body felt lighter and his knees felt weak as he tried to take a step. He tripped and ended dropping all the wood. He could have sworn he heard giggling coming from behind a hut. Ever since then, when ever he saw her around the village, she would give him a small wave or even a wink sometimes. Just the thought of her was enough to make those feelings come back. He was only glancing at the merchandise, too caught up in his day dream of a pair of pretty eyes, when he felt something hard hit the back of his head. "Ow!" He was looking around as he rubbed his head. He looked down and picked up the small rock, which was the cause of his discomfort. Just at that moment, another rock skipped across the ground in front of him. "What the...?" He looked in the direction the rock came from, and he saw a furry bulk disappear behind a hut. Zimba just rolled his eyes. "What is he doing back there?" He murmured. He was just about to turn the corner when all of a sudden a big paw was clamped over his mouth as he was dragged behind the hut. "Shhhhhhhhh..., follow me." He finally pried the the paw off his mouth. "What is-!" "Shush!" "What is going on?" Zimba finally whispers. "Have you noticed anything strange about the traders?" "Aside from them speaking poor Zebracan? No. Why?" "I don't know. There is just something about them that... smells wrong." "Smells? Could it be because they haven't bathed in who knows how long?" "No. Would you just listen?" I then commenced to explain all that I had heard in the hut, and how I came to look at the merchant's stuff. "Well then, why don't you go and look at it?" "Because I don't want them to see me. I-" He was cut off by a loud voice saying, "Thank you all for your business!" It was Claptrap. He was carrying a sack on his back, and Haiba was standing next to him. "We have concluded our bartering, so please finish any business you have because we will be leaving in five minutes!" There was a mad dash for the carts as every zebra wanted to finish their purchases. After five minutes on the dot, the carts were loaded up and heading out back the way they came. Tony wanted to breath a sigh of relief but for some reason he still couldn't relax. The whole ordeal just seemed to rub him the wrong way and he couldn't shake the feeling something was wrong. 'Maybe I will go talk to Haiba about it.' _____________________________________________________________________________ As soon as they where out of hearing and sight of the village, Claptrap ordered them to pick up the pace. They pulled their carts quickly over the rough terrain for nearly another hour. Fleet wing was exhausted. "Please boss. Can we stop and rest?" He gasped. "Yeah, I'm not one to complain boss, but we can't keep going at this pace." Said the big earth pony with the punching bag cutie mark "Why are we even running?" Fleetwing asked. Claptrap ignored his question as he looked around at the other exhausted ponies as they all nodded in agreement. "Fine I'll do you one better. Take off those carts and leave them here, and YOU!" he pointed at Feetwing, " Fly ahead and tell the rest of the caravan to get ready. We're bugging out as soon as the rest of us catch up." Fleetwing was off like a shot! He pumped his wings as hard as he could to get the blood flowing through them. 'Ahhhhhh... This feels so good to fly again and give my legs a rest. I have no idea what boss is doing but I'll do anything to not have to pull that cart again' He flew for as hard as he could for about twenty minutes before the caravan came into sight. When he touched down, his legs gave out from underneath him. A young grey unicorn mare with a compass rose over a map for her cutie mark came and helped him up. He had always thought that she was kinda pretty but she never really spoke to anypony other than the boss, unless she was giving out orders. He wasn't quite sure what her position is. "Are you all right? What happened?" she asked. "Boss *pants* says to *pants* break camp." He continues after he catches his breath. "If they keep traveling at the rate we were going at, then they should be here in about two hours." "Why? Was anypony hurt?" He just shook his head. She turned around and started barking orders at the others to break down camp. Fleetwing decided to rest a little bit before he had to get back to work. ___________________________________________________________________________ "Haiba!" "Haaaiiiiiibaaaaaaa!" 'Where is that mare? She wasn't in her hut and I haven't seen her around the village.' It had been about an hour and a half since the traders had left and I still felt uneasy. I decided to check all the huts since she wasn't in her's, but I had no idea where to start. Luckily I spotted Zimba walking around, but he seemed to be in sort of a daze. "Hey Zimba! I shouted to wake him back up. "Where would your mother be if she isn't in the hut?" "ummm... I don't know. Normally, after a trade, she would be in the council hut distributing out the goods to the rest of the tribe." "But that's the thing, No one has seen her." "Well, maybe she is still there. What did you need to talk to her about?" We started walking to the same hut that I followed Haiba, the elder, and Claptrap to. "I still feel uneasy about those traders. About the way they bargained and especially the way they left so suddenly." Zimba just rolls his eyes as we approach the entrance to the hut. "You worry too much. You know-?" *Thump* We both stopped in the doorway. "Did you hear that? I asked. *Thump* "Yeah and there it is again. Its coming from over there." He points a hoof to the far back corner of the dark hut. We walked slowly into the dark council hut and made our way to the far back corner. What we saw shocked us. It was the tribe elder, gagged and tied up like a thanksgiving turkey. "geff mef owuph of fif" "Great Celestia above! What happened to you gramps?" Zimba asked as he tried to undo the knot. "Here let me help" I extend a claw and cut the gag away. "Where is Haiba?" The elder asked in a thin raspy voice. "No one has seen her. We came in here looking for her." I replied as I continued to cut his bonds. "Oh no! They took her!" he croaked. "Zimba, go get some water" Zimba looked shaken to say the least but then dashed out of the hut in record speed. I helped the Zebra stand and start walking in order to get the circulation back in his legs. "You guys reached an agreement after only a few minutes of negotiation. What happened after that?" I asked He looked at me with a puzzled face and then a sudden understanding came to him. "You where listening, weren't you?" "I uh... didn't mean to be rude or anything but I uh..." "Its alright. I'm kind of glad you did." I was about to ask him about Haiba when Zimba came racing up with a cup of water. "Here you go! Now! What did you mean by they took her?" The elder filled us in on what happened in the council hut after negotiations where ended. The more I listened, the more I angry I got. It wasn't like the enraged anger like I had my melt down. No,this anger left me cold almost. Thoughts began to fly, claws came out and started kneading the ground and plans began to form. "Zimba, Get your war staff and some supplies and meet me in your hut. We're going hunting!" I growled. Zimba was just as angry as I was and the elder started to get a little nervous. "Now hold on for just a minute. I'm not going to let you boys go off by yourselves as hotheaded as you are right know." "Oh? And your going to stop me how?" "I never said anything about stopping you. I just want to slow you down enough so we can send a runner out for Momboza and alert the other elders to our departure." I nodded my head in response until everything he said sunk in. "Uh wait... our departure?" "Of course. You didn't think I was going to let you two young colts go running around the savanna having all the fun for yourselves do you? Besides," His voice became full of malice. "They took my daughter!" I sat there slightly stunned at this new development. 'Come on! snap out of it! You can figure out the family tree later. Right know, focus on the task at hand.' "Uh... Right! We'll get our stuff and meet at Zimba's hut in half an hour." With that said we went our separate ways. I went back to the hut to gather my gear. I looked over my stuff and decided to leave all the electronics and keep the first aid kit, the blanket, the flares and the forty five with two full clips. I also packed my bed roll that I had been sleeping on for the past week. I looked down at the gun and flares and realized that they would be nearly useless in a fight. I couldn't fire the gun. It was too small to fit in my paws. The flares only gave off light and heat. I needed to do some modifications. I looked around and found some small clay jars, some string, and some wax. 'Perfect' After about thirty minutes, The elder showed up with a pair of what looked like saddle bags over his back and a war staff strapped to him. With out saying a word, he went over to the shelves where Haiba keeps her potions and ingredients grabs a couple bottles and wraps them in a cloth. "Here, place them in your pack, and don't break them." I looked at them cautiously and added them to my bag. Zimba finally showed up and handed me an extra war staff. "What took you so long?" "I had to say good bye to somepony. Here this one is for you. Try not to break it." I just rolled my eyes and asked, "Can we leave know? They have a decent two almost three hour head start." "It's time. Lets go." the elder announced. _____________________________________________________________________________ Yes I live!!!! Here is what i promised you so long ago. Read my blog. please comment. I love your comments. I desire them if I ever hope to get any better at this.
The Hunt"I'm *sniff* ssso *hic* sorry." "I di... di... *sob* didn't mea..... *sniff*" the grey mare said for probably the hundredth time "Shhhhhhhhhh, its going to be alright. None of this was your fault." Haiba whispered softly as she held a very distraught grey unicorn mare. The zebra took in her surroundings for the hundredth time since she had regained consciousness. They were in a small but very well built cage on wheels with a tarp thrown over it to hide the contents from any prying eyes. When she had first woken up, she had tried to demand that they release her and no harm would befall them because of it. All she got for an answer was a hard hit on the side of the head from one of the guards. It wasn't to much longer after that that she heard raised voices and a very loud scream. Then all of a sudden, the tarp was thrown back and a guard unlocked the gate while another pointed a spear at her. It was then when the young mare was thrown into Haiba's cage all beat up and the gate was slammed shut and locked. Claptrap came up to the edge and said," You knew what I was all along and you still chose to believe that I could change." "In my defense, I did try. Your mother thought that every thing could change, and she left us when she realized that life isn't all sunshine and roses. You were abandoned by her and yet you still side with her ideals. Sometimes, I don't know who is more pathetic you or her." Even if Haiba never knew equestrian (which she did speak very well), she could never have misunderstood the situation or her role in it. Right then a young mare needed some healing both physically and emotionally and she was the right zebra for the job. Soon after Claptrap left, they had started moving and had been on the move for several hours now. It was getting dark, but how late it really was, Haiba couldn't tell with the thick tarp over the cage. All she could do was hold the young mare and try to comfort her. She didn't know how or when, but Haiba was sure that help would come. ____________________________________________________________________________ Several hours earlier Soon after Fleetwing had taken off, Claptrap released the sack he was carrying and gave it to the big stallion with the punching bag cutie mark. "Wow! she sure is heavy for a mare." "Now Jab, Is that any way to talk about a lady? Just remember if this deal goes over well, not only will it save our hides but we'll be filthy rich as well." Claptrap stated. " Now," he said turning back to the others. "We'll split off into groups of two and I want you to go different directions. I want you to twist and turn and back track so much I want you to almost get lost yourselves. Remember I said almost. I want you to make it difficult for anypony who might be tracking us. Meet back at camp as soon as you can. GO!" With that said, they divided up into groups of two and then scattered. Claptrap and Jab had paired off and were carrying the sack with Haiba in it. "So, boss *pant* why are we doing this and what does *pant* She want with a potions maker?" Jab asked as they ran through the tall grass. "Do you want to me to spell it out for you?! *pant* Look I have no idea why she wants a potions maker. All I know is that we do this last job we can retire, one way or the other.*pant* Me? Personally, I prefer the way that has lots of money and doesn't involve jail time." Jab gave a small chuckle "Me too boss. Me too!" ___________________________________________________________________________ "Ughhh...Where are they?" Compass Rose mumbled to herself. "All he was supposed to do was get some potions. How hard could that be? He better not have done anything else. Please let him not have done anything other than that. He promised." she pleaded with herself. For the last two and a half hours, ever since that new pegasus came back saying they had to pack it up, she had been hoping that Claptrap hadn't reverted to old habits. Just the thought made her get mad. So she tried to vent it on the rest of the crew. "You there! What did you say your name was?" she shouted at the pegasus who had brought the news. "Fleetwing ma'am." "Well Fleetwing, according to your estimate, they should've been back half an hour ago. Fly up and see if you can see them! Get your flank moving before I move it for you. " "Yes ma'am!" and with that the young stallion turn tail and flew off. Rose continued her pacing hoping that the sinking pit in her stomach was just because of indigestion. She continued to pace for what felt like an eternity before Fleetwing returned. "They're coming in now but I don't understand it. They are approaching from several different directions." the pegasus reported. That did nothing to reassure her doubt. Five minutes later she saw Claptrap enter the camp with Jab with a large sack on his back. "Hello, my crew! Did you all have a fine vacation with out your kind and soft hearted boss here to tell you to quit slacking off? Well vacation is over! get back to work! I wanted this caravan moving two hours ago!" "Hey," Jab nudged Claptrap. "Looks like your 'Number One' wants to talk to you and she doesn't look happy." Claptrap just sighs, " she probably wants to know if every thing is all right and I'll just have to lie to her again." Rose stomped up to Claptrap and asked him one question. "Why?" Claptrap was caught a little off guard with this question and the hurt and anger he saw in his daughter's eyes. He wasn't expecting her to ask that. Apparently his little filly wasn't as naive as he thought she was. After composing himself he asked "Jab, would you take our guest and make sure she is comfortable?" Jab picked up the sack once more and with a nervous look between his boss and the obviously irate mare, he turned and headed off towards one of the covered wagons. Claptrap turned back to his daughter and received a slap to the face that nearly knocked him over. "Why?" she nearly screamed at him. Then with a sob she spoke quieter. "We were so close. Just one more year, our contract would have been up and all this could have been behind us, and here you go foal-napping an innocent zebra from their home. How could you?" Claptrap stood up rubbing his cheek. His anger rising but he kept it in check. "Why? I'll tell you why. If we do this then we wont have to wait for next year. If we do this now then, we can retire and go someplace and actually be a family just like you always wanted." "Huh... how am I supposed to trust you? That's what you told mom too before she left!" Rose's anger started to rise again. "Your nothing but a no good..." "Easy...." " LYING..." "Whoa NOW!..." "THIEVING! " "STOP!" "EVIL...!" "I SAID 'THAT'S ENOUGH'!!!" " AHHHHHHHHHHH!!!" Rose screamed as she flew off her hoofs. Claptrap looked at his own hoof in shock. 'What did I just do?' He never got a chance to answer this as he looked around and noticed the rest of the crew staring at him. 'No I need to set an example for the crew that insubordination will not be tolerated. So with that thought, he walked over to his daughter and said. "You have questioned and assaulted me. You think your so high and mighty little miss holier than thou. If you think that life is so clear cut then I think being second in command is the wrong position for you." "Put her with our 'guest'." he sneered. Two members of the crew went and picked her up none too gently and carried her to the cage. After she had been tossed into the cage he came up to the edge and said, "You knew what I was all along and you still chose to believe that I could change." "In my defense, I did try. Your mother thought that every thing could change, and she left us when she realized that life isn't all sunshine and roses. You were abandoned by her and yet you still side with her ideals. Sometimes, I don't know who is more pathetic, you or her." And with that said, he turned around and left. Rose had never felt so alone or so lost. How could her daddy, the stallion that she always looked up to to protect her and love her, do something like this? She supposed that she deserved some sort of reprimand because of those names she called him but this was still the first time he had ever hit her out of anger like that, And why did he have to say those things about mom? What is really going on? Why Daddy why? She was a little filly again and all she wanted was her daddy to chased away the monsters again. Too confused and tired to think, she just broke down and cried. She felt a hoof rest softly on her shoulder. She looked up into the kind eyes of the zebra mare. Rose cleared her throat, wiped her eyes, sat up and tried to explain. "I'm *sniff* ssso *hic* sorry." "I di... di... *sob* didn't mea....." That's about as far as she got before she dissolved into tears again. The kind zebra just held Rose in her hooves as the young mare sobbed for the both of them. For both had lost their family that day. ___________________________________________________________________________ "Huh oh... now what do we do?" Zimba asked. We had just come across a very troubling site. The wagons that the traders were pulling had all been dumped and there wasn't a clear cut path anymore. It almost looked like there were at least three different paths leading in three different directions. ""Hmmm... very clever." the zebra elder said "Our opponents have played this game before and are quite good at it." "What?!" Zimba and I ask at the same time. "They have lightened their load and are now able to travel faster. So they take that time to create false trails to confuse us. One of these trails will take us pretty much straight to their camp while the other two will twist and turn and get us lost." "Well that's just great! How are we supposed to track 'em now?" I asked "Well, how about your sense of smell? Your always going on about how they smelled bad to you." Zimba asked, a bit panicked about the thought of losing the trail. "Do I look like a blood hound? I have been trying to smell something the entire way here but all I smell now is you, gramps and dirt. That's it." "Look, will you two stop flapping your gums and get over here? They went that way." He said pointing down one of the paths. "How can you tell?" Zimba asked. "Easy!" he said, "Catch!" And with that, he jumped up and landed on Zimba. "OOF!" "What the...? Grampa, I thought mom told you to cut out the honey soaked mushrooms!?" Zimba groaned as his grandfather sat on his back. " Yes, well, I love them so and what your mother doesn't know wont hurt her. Don't deny and old stallion his pleasures, now walk." After a few steps, the elder said "See? The hoof prints are deeper than a normal ponies meaning that the pony was carrying something heavy. Or else it was a big, fat pony with little hoofs for its size, but since I don't remember seeing one at the village then that means that those..." he pointed at a set of prints "are the ones we must follow." "That's great! You can get off me now!" Zimba yelled. "All right then, lets go!" I said. ____________________________________________________________________________ Zimba led the way down the path. We had been running at a good clip for about an hour and a half before we stopped at the wagons and it had almost been two hours since then and we were still keeping up a nearly breakneck pace. I was beginning to wonder if he had some sort of potion he was drinking just to keep up his energy or was there something else going on. I could tell by the tired glances that the elder kept glancing at him that he was wondering the same thing. "Hey Zimba would you slow down a bit!?... Your grampa is getting tired!" I yelled up at him. The elder looked at me with a raised eyebrow and said "Don't use me as an excuse *pant* just because your getting tired *pant*." "Maybe you wouldn't be so tired if you ran on all fours!" Zimba yelled back at me. I had been running like a human the entire time. Habit. "Hey, are you deaf!? I said that your grampa is getting tired! What about him?" I answered. "If he can't keep up then he shouldn't have come!" I looked at the elder and he nodded in the direction of the young zebra. In slow understanding, I nodded in return. Lowering my self on all fours, I sprinted after Zimba until I was able to catch him in a flying tackle. "OOF!" After I had him pinned down, he started yelling at me. " What the hay are you doing!? We can't lose the trail! we're so close! Why are you doing this? Your with them aren't you! This was all a trick to get us to trust you! You Stole MY MOTHER!" He was working 'mself into a major frenzy. So, I did the only thing I could think to do. I took a deep breath, got right up in his face and roared as as loud as I could. "ALL RIGHT NOW THAT'S ENOUGH!" There was a look of shock and fright on his face.'Uh oh, I might have taken that a little too far.' I got up off him and the elder dashed in and helped Zimba to his hoofs. "Are you alright?" "Yea grampa, I'm fine just a little shook up." I had started to unpack a little bit of food from the backpack. I handed some to them as well as some water. "Here you go. You need to rest a little bit before we start after them again." I told Zimba "um... Thanks." he said a little nervously as he took the food. The elder was also eying me with a nervous but steely gaze. I figured I had better apologize before anything else happened. "Sorry I had to get after ya like that. You weren't going to listen to me and If I didn't do something to distract you, you would have gotten hurt or worse killed." "And scaring him and me accomplished that how?" the elder asked. "hmm... He wasn't thinking clearly, so the way I figured it, if the sound didn't wake him up then the smell sure would've. I haven't been able to brush my teeth really since I got here and that's just gross." I looked at both of them and smiled. Zimba was the first to break into a nervous grin and then started chuckling. Gramps soon followed when he realized that no harm was intended. I joined in on the laughter and after that things when back to the way they were. Minus of course one hysterical zebra. As it turned out where we had stopped to eat had been where the main camp had been parked. "They will be traveling a lot slower now they have the full caravan. If the blessings of the sun goddess favor us, we will catch up to them by night fall." The Zebra elder said as he set a slower but steadier pace. __________________________________________________________________________ Fleet wing has never been more troubled or confused in his entire life then he was right then. After the big reveal of the captured zebra, the sudden anger and aggression the Boss showed to a mare (his own daughter no less), he had been too stunned to say anything about it. As he looked back now he realized just how dumb he had been, ' How could I have been so stupid? It was bad enough trying to cheat the zebras but now foalnaping them? This is getting way out of hoof. I need to cut ties with them as soon as I can.' He thought back to the two prisoners 'but I can't just leave them caged like that. That would make me as guilty as Claptrap. I'll try to get them out tonight when its my turn on guard. With that last thought, he prepared himself for what he had to do. __________________________________________________________________________ "Look there it is!" Zimba exclaimed. "Shhhh!" "Shhhh!" "Sorry" he whispered back. "so, how are we going to do this?" " First, we are going to scout out where they are keeping her. Then, we are going to wait until most of them are asleep. Then, we will create a large enough diversion to daze and confuse them while I sneak in and free them" The Elder said. "Ummm..." I raised my paw. "How big of a diversion are we talking here? I only have a couple of things I made up and I can't guarantee just how big or loud they'll be." "You still have those potions I gave you right?" "Yea.. so...?" "So... those potions have been on a shelf for years. I can't remember what was in them exactly, but they are almost ridiculously unstable. That I do remember. They'll make a big boom when placed in a fire." "WHAT!" "SHHHHHHH!" "You mean ta tell me that ah've been caryin 'round, on my back, a failed science 'xpearament that could ah've gone off if it had've got'en too hot in the sun!?" I whispered back. "Yes, and you did a fantastic job of it too!" "Um.. why are you taking like that? You sound like something just snapped a string that had been pulled tight." Zimba asked "ay uh...mmmm *cough* *Clears throat* I uh... get like that when I'm scared or really angry. Its how I grew up speaking and I sometimes revert back to it." I squeaked out. "Cute, but we have a task at hoof here that needs to be accomplished. We'll talk about home when we are done. Now here is how this will go down." and the elder gave out assignments. ______________________________________________________________________________ A/N sorry it took so long. my life has been in a major flux. school and work have to take priority over this. I did a lot of experimenting with some of the character development as well as the writing style. I am by no means done with the editing out of the grammar mistakes so please be patient with me. let me know if the story is progressing too fast or too slow or anything else that I may need to improve upon. sorry if this chapter seems to have a lot of filler in it.
Read me first!Hey every one! this is to let you all know that I am sorry from the bottom of my heart for the delay in chapters. I have been in a major funk as far as my writing goes. Everything else in life is great, so I procrastinated writing, and every time I did try to write I got stuck. So I decided to reread my story. And the first four chapters appalled me! I realized they were jumpy, sketchy on the details, and gave poor character development. So I have been (and still am) in the process of re writing them in hopes that I will kick start my ideas for the rest of the stories. I would love to hear any and all feedback to help make this story better. I understand if you have lost patience with it and once more I apologize. I am not a mighty writer and this story was kinda started on a whim. If you are patient with me then I will do my best to reward your kindness with more and hopefully better chapters. So with out further ado, Here is the first chapter revised.
